Family Resemblance
by Mask Maker 907
Summary: Due to an accident the Heartfilia line ended three years after Anna went through the Gate. In a desperate attempt to keep their promise to Anna, the only survivor turned to an unconventional solution. Needless to say, Anna would not have approved. Clone!AU. Minor Nalu. Updates Saturdays.
1. Chapter 1

Number 7 hummed tunelessly as she wandered through the halls of Heartfilia manor. Her voice echoed off the bare walls and floors making it seem like there were others humming with her. There weren't, the others had gone their separate ways a long while back. Not that it mattered. If the others were there it would all sound the same regardless.

They didn't have any lessons at the moment and Lord Heartfilia had given permission for them to do what they wanted; so long as they didn't leave the manor at least. They never left the manor. Leaving was grounds for being disposed of and that was something Number 7 didn't want to happen. Not to her. Not to any of the other five either.

The only one, other than Lord Heartfilia, who could leave was Miss Layla. However, Number 7 knew that was because there was only one Miss Layla. She couldn't be replaced, she couldn't be disposed of. Miss Layla was unique. Not like Number 7. She was not unique, she was disposable.

She was told that she was the seventh out of ten, though Numbers 1, 2, 6 and 9 had never woken up, so instead she was the seventh out of six. She supposed it wasn't so bad. Number 10 probably had it worse, being tenth of six. Not that Number 10 complained. None of them ever complained. Complaining meant being defective, which was not something any of them wanted to be.

That's what Miss Layla told them. She said if they had anything to say, to say it to her unless it was a direct question from Lord Heartfilia with regards to their lessons.

Her humming ended along with the movement of her feet as Number 7 stopped in front of the only piece of decoration in the Heartfilia manor. It was a perfectly preserved, life sized portrait of Lord Heartfilia, his wife and their daughter. The four year old in the painting was a mirror image to the four year old looking up at it.

Number 7 had only seen this picture twice before in her young life. Both times she never knew what to feel. She still didn't. Miss Layla had given Number 8 a dictionary once. Number 7 hadn't had the chance to try to read it yet; Number 8 didn't like to share. Number 7 thought that if she could read it, she'd be able to figure out just what it was she felt when looking at the picture of their original.

More footsteps echoed down the hall. They were louder than hers had been, but not the great big booming noise that meant Lord Heartfilia was on his way. Number 7 grinned and turned.

"Hello Miss Layla."

She got a small smile in return, "hello my little lucky number." She knelt beside the smaller blonde and placed a gentle hand on her head. "Are you ready for the next lesson?"

"Maybe. What is it?"

The small smile widened. "Why, writing of course!"

"Nooo!"

Miss Layla giggled at Number 7's pout. "Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it. Although…"

Number 7 looked up at the suddenly thoughtful adult. Miss Layla's lips were pursed and her pointer finger was tapping her chin. "Yes?"

"If you're really very good for this lesson, and if you try your best…I might be able to give you a treat!"

"Really!?" Treats were a rare thing, though they could be just about anything- like the dictionary that Number 8 was supposed to share. However gaining a treat was a difficult thing. Especially with regards to lessons. Number 4 hated their handwriting lessons almost as much as Number 7 did. It'd be hard to convince her to be good. If they weren't all good, then they were all bad; that was the rule that Lord Heartfilia passed down. "What kind of treat?"

"Mm…it's a surprise!"

"A surprise?" she practically danced in place. Number 7 hoped that she could convince the others to behave. A surprise could mean anything, though Number 7 wanted it to be a story. Those were one of her favorite treats. Though Number 4 hated them, she always said that stories were one big lie, and Number 3 hated anything that didn't have to do with stars.

Miss Layla giggled again before standing and holding out her hand for Number 7 to take. She eagerly grabbed it and together they went back down the corridor to where their lessons would be.

As they walked, the small child peeked up at the older woman. She took in the others long golden hair as well as her soft and kind face. Number 7 couldn't help but think that Miss Layla was very pretty. Which was good, it meant she'd be pretty when she grew up as well.

By the time they were halfway to the classrooms Number 7 noticed something, or rather a lack of something.

"Miss Layla?"

"Yes?"

"Where's your keys?"

She gave a gentle smile. "Aquarius wanted to travel for a bit, so I lent her to a friend. Capricorn is looking after a student of mine. As for Cancer…" She held up the clawed key with a wink. "He wanted to stay and look after everyone's hair."

Number 7 giggled, "will we be able to see him later?"

Miss Layla's face fell slightly. "Maybe."

"Miss Layla?" The older woman was frowning and her eyes were sad. It reminded of the time when she and the others had asked her how Miss Layla had become unique and irreplaceable.

Miss Layla suddenly smiled again, though it wasn't as happy as the one she had before. "Sorry, today isn't the best day." Number 7 nodded. Miss Layla couldn't do magic all the time, there were some good days- it was how she and the others had met Miss Layla's three Zodiacs- however some days were also bad. Miss Layla wasn't in bed today, so while it wasn't a bad day, it wasn't a good enough one for her do use magic.

Miss Layla squeezed her hand slightly. "Who knows, perhaps you'll be the one to summon him next time."

Number 7 nodded, "Number 5 will." Number 5 was the best with regards to magic, though she didn't particularly care much for celestial spirits.

Miss Layla gave a hum. "Or you could, lucky Number 7."

"But I'm the worst at magic." It was true, of their group, though they were made identical, she was the worst at gathering and using her magic. Number 7 would even say that she had the least amount to use even if such a claim didn't make sense.

"You love my spirits don't you?"

"Of course!" It wasn't even a question that she loved the stellar spirits. On Miss Layla's good days Number 7 would spend hours playing with their uncle Cap, or swimming with Aquarius or letting Cancer do whatever with her hair. Whatever spirit was out, she would stay with them for the longest, even long after the others lost interest. Not even the promise of a new story would draw her away from them.

Though now that she thought about it, she wouldn't see Uncle Cap or Aquarius anymore. She swallowed past a sudden lump in her throat. "Miss Layla?"

"Yes?"

"Wi-Will I see them again? Aquaris and Uncle Cap?"

Miss Layla chuckled. "Aquarius would drown you if you said her name like that to her face," she muttered before speaking louder. "Don't worry, they're only going to be gone for a little while."

The little girl pouted. "But-" she cut herself off. They had arrived at the classroom and Lord Heartfilia was standing at the door. He was holding the hand of one of the other girls. At a glance, Number 7 couldn't tell which one she was. They were, after all, all identical.

Both Number 7 and Miss Layla gave a small bow. "Lord Heartfilia, what can we do for you?" Miss Layla let go of Number 7's hand as she spoke. Neither of them looked Lord Heartfilia in the eye. You were never supposed to look at his face, much less make eye contact.

"I am taking Lucy Number 4." His voice was flat and monotone, as always. Number 4 seemed to be doing her best to keep her face blank as Lord Heartfilia then started to walk away, taking her with him.

"Ah!" Miss Layla reached her hand out to Lord Heartfilia, as if to stop him. "When will she be returned, my Lord?"

He paused to look at Layla from the corner of his eye. "When the experiment is finished." With that said he began walking once more.

Number 4 looked back at them, her face was pale as they turned a corner.

"Miss Layla?" Number 7 questioned as Miss Layla shuffled her into the room. All the other ones were there already, all of them looked as scared as Number 7 felt. "Is Number 4 going to be okay?" Almost as one they all looked to Miss Layla for the answer.

The woman sighed. "Lucy Number 4 was taken for Lord Heartfilia to experiment on. This wasn't so uncommon before the…accident…" She paused for a moment, inhaling sharply to steady herself. She always got this way when she spoke of the event that happened before their generation had been made; the event that wiped out the 51st, 52nd, 53rd, and 54th generations. Miss Layla was the only one to survive, though whatever happened had also left her sick.

The girls stayed quiet and let her recover. After taking one last breath she started speaking again. "Lord Heartfilia will likely bring her back. However there is a good chance she will be sore from the experiment, so please, be kind and patient to her if -when- she returns." Miss Layla clapped her hands gestured to the chairs and desks scattered about. "Now, take your seats, it's time for today's worksheet."

Though Number 7 diligently went to her seat, her heart wasn't in the lesson. It wasn't likely they'd get the surprise, but she couldn't bring herself to care too much at the moment. Her mind was on Number 4 and what Miss Layla had said before she corrected herself. What was Lord Heartfilia going to do to Number 4? Why did Miss Layla say if, and what did she mean by it? Was Number 4 going to be okay? Would Number 7 ever see her again?


	2. Chapter 2

Number 7 did get to see Number 4 again. Three days after Lord Heartfilia took her she was back. There was no fanfare, no announcement of what he'd done, they had simply woken up in the morning to find that she'd returned. This of course caused great excitement among the other five and great annoyance to Number 4.

"What was it like?"

"Did he take you apart?"

"How are you feeling?"

"What location did he take you to?"

"Do you have super powers now?"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she snapped. "You're so loud and annoying! I have a headache! Shut up!"

Most of them backed off at that, but Number 7 moved forward and hugged the other girl. "I'm glad you came back." She muttered.

Number 4 shoved her away. "I told you to shut up!"

Number 7 just smiled and backed off. She was glad to see that, despite whatever Lord Heartfilia had done, Number 4 hadn't changed

It was around then that Miss Layla entered their room, she smiled broadly at the sight of six identical blonde girls. "Good morning. I'm glad to see you again, Lucy Number 4. How are you feeling?"

Number 4 crossed her arms. "Good morning Miss Layla… and I have a headache."

Miss Layla knelt before the small child. Gently she tilted Number 4's head up so that she could look the girl in the eye. "Oh, that's too bad. Does anywhere else hurt?" Number 4 shook her head. "Feel sore?" Another shake. "Numb?" Another shake. Layla rested her forehead against Number 4's. "No fever…" She muttered.

"I feel fine, Miss Layla. My head just hurts."

"Hmm…" She moved back and gently smoothed her fingers over Number 4's face and forehead. "We'll be doing magic today," she murmured softly. "Do you feel up for it?"

Number 4 looked like she really wanted to say yes. Number 7 really wanted her to say yes too, magic days were the best days, it'd be bad if Number 4 had to miss it. However, with a pained whine Number 4 shook her head again. "No…"

Miss Layla smiled kindly. "It's alright, you rest today. You and I can work on magic when you feel better, alright. Just the two of us."

"Kay…" She sniffed and trudged off to her bed.

Miss Layla ushered the rest of the girls to get ready for the day while informing Number 4 that she should drink as much water as she could. Number 4's only response was to curl up under her covers.

All throughout the lesson Miss Layla would go and check on Number 4. Thankfully Number 4 was able to join them in the afternoon, though Miss Layla said that they'd all have to be kind of quiet. Then Number 4 snapped at Number 10 for breathing too loudly, encouraging Number 10 to breathe louder on purpose. The resulting fight got them both put into time out.

It was only later, after they'd eaten dinner, that Number 4 was willing to talk about it. The others gathered around her bed, even Number 10 who still had a bruise on her face where Number 4 had punched her.

"So," Number 5 said, "what was it like?"

Number 4 huffed. "Boring. Lord Heartfilia took me to the exam room, looked me over and then used his magic on me. I woke up later with a headache and he told me to go back."

"Aww. What a disenchantment." Number 8 grumbled.

Number 7 frowned and looked at Number 8. "What does that even mean?" Ever since Number 8 was given the dictionary she was always using big words that the rest of them didn't know.

"Like I'd enlighten you."

Number 3 ignored Number 7 and Number 8 and simply huffed. "All that fuss for that? That's boring."

"How's your head feeling?" Number 5 gave Number 4 a wary look. "It would have hurt a lot if you had to skip magic practice."

Number 4 pouted. "Yeah. It did hurt really badly. It's better now. Miss Layla was right though. I needed to drink lots of water."

"Well whatever he did, it didn't make you stronger." Number 10 rubbed at the bruise. "Getting punched didn't hurt any more than usual."

"I wouldn't have punched you if you'd stop breathing so loudly!"

"I wasn't doing it on purpose!"

"Yes you were!"

"Not at first!"

"Girls!" Miss Layla admonished as she entered the room. She gave Number 4 and Number 10 a stern look. "If the two of you can't get along then perhaps you shouldn't be near each other."

Number 10 pouted, "but we were having fun."

All of them gave Number 10 and odd look. Number 7 couldn't imagine why Number 10 would consider getting into fights fun. Then again, Number 10 was weird like that.

Miss Layla pursed her lips. "Regardless, it's time for bed. Have you all brushed your teeth?"

"Number 7 keeps taking my toothbrush." Number 8 said.

Number 7 gaped at Number 8 before her face went red. "I do not!"

"Well someone does!"

"That doesn't mean it's me!" Why would she want to take Number 8's toothbrush?

"Who else would it be? You're the only number next to mine!"

"So? That doesn't mean anything!"

"Quit complaining," Number 3 drawled.

Number 5 piped up, "yeah, does it matter? We all have the same mouth."

"It's still gross!" Both Number 7 and Number 8 shouted.

"Lucy Number 8, if Lucy Number7 shares your attitude to sharing toothbrushes, I doubt she's the one taking it." Miss Layla reasoned, "The simplest way to solve this is for all of you to brush your teeth at the same time."

"But I already brushed mine!" Number 5 whined.

"Me too." Number 3 grumbled.

"Then brush them again. Your teeth can never be too clean." Miss Layla started ushering them all to the bathroom.

"But Number 7 left disgusting food bits on mine!"

"I didn't take your toothbrush!" Number 7 screamed.

Miss Layla clapped her hands. "Enough! Lucy Number 8, do not accuse others without proof. I will get you a new toothbrush, we have extras. Lucy Number 7, raising your voice will not prove you right or help you win arguments. It will only irritate others and give you a sore throat. Lucy Number 10, don't take what's not yours."

Number 10, who had been grinning and giggling through the whole fight, opened her mouth in shock. "What? How did you-?"

"Because I know you. Now you will all go to the bathroom. You will all brush and floss your teeth. Then you will all go to bed without another word, is that understood?"

"Yes Miss Layla." The six of them said in various tones at more or less at the same time before getting up and doing what she had ordered them to do.

Their bathroom was large; it had to be there was ten of everything. Ten sinks, ten mirrors, ten showers, ten toilets divided into little stalls, ten of everything a bathroom could possibly need. On each object, in big bold and black lettering was a number going from 1 through to 10. Though all the ones numbered 1, 2, 6 and 9 had never been used by any of the Lucys.

Their bedroom was much the same; beds, dressers, lights, nightstands. Ten of each all numbered for its specific Lucy. Or rather, a Lucy numbered for those specific items. All the furniture in the rooms would stay long after the Lucys would leave.

The six Lucys did as Miss Layla had ordered and settled quietly into their beds. She read them a chapter from a story book before leaving and turning off the lights. Normally Number 7 would have begged Miss Layla for her to read more, however she didn't feel like it that night after fighting with Number 8 and getting scolded by Miss Layla.

Instead she lay awake in the dark. She probably wasn't the only one awake, but it wasn't worth risking Miss Layla catching them talking when they should be sleeping. Instead she thought and worried about Number 4.

Normally whenever there was an argument Number 4 would take the side of the person she liked the most that day while repeatedly calling the other one a liar, especially if the other person was Number 7. Well, unless it was Number 10. Almost everyone always sided against Number 10. Not that Number 10 seemed to care.

Yet tonight Number 4 had been silent throughout the entire fight. She didn't accuse Number 7 of lying, something she'd done at least once a day for the past six months. Ever since Number 7 told her that the trees liked to dance. Number 4 had yelled at her for lying because she knew it was the wind moving the trees. Number 7 had known that too, she just thought it was a boring reason. Then again, Number 4 never liked anything that wasn't backed up with pure fact.

Tonight she hadn't taken the chance to call Number 7 a liar. She hadn't even objected to Miss Layla reading them a story, something she always did but was always outvoted on. Maybe, Number 7 thought, Number 4 didn't feel as well as she said she did.

Number 7 hadn't noticed whether or not Number 4 was in pain or if she was acting strange. All the same before Number 7 fell asleep she promised herself that she'd look out for Number 4 as best she could. Even if no one heard it, even if no one else knew about it, Number 7 still made a promise and Miss Layla said that a celestial mage never broke their promises.


	3. Chapter 3

When they were six, about a month before they turned seven, Lord Heartfilia had crowded them in the exam room for an announcement. This brought fear and excitement to the five of them. It'd been a while since the last time he'd had an announcement.

"It has come to my attention that you are all referring to yourselves by your numbers." Lord Heartfilia intoned. Number 7 exchanged nervous glances with the other girls. Were they going to get new names? She had been called Number 7 that for as long as she could remember, she couldn't imagine being called something else. Regardless of the thoughts buzzing around in their heads, Lord Heartfilia continued. "With the impending awakening of the next generation, you are now old enough that there is no need for childish numbers. From this day forth, you shall refer to yourself and your peers by your generation's name."

Number 7 blinked. What exactly was that supposed to mean? The only name they had that wasn't a number was Lucy. Just Lucy. Perhaps foolishly, she spoke up. "Sir?" She held back a flinch when his eyes landed on her. "Does this mean that we're only ever going to be called Lucy?"

"Did I not make that clear?"

"W-well, wouldn't it be confusing, if there's five Lucys…?"

"I do not see why that would matter."

"But what if I want to talk to Number 3 rather than Number 5? Or-" She was cut off when Number 8 elbowed her sharply in the side.

"As I said, it does not matter. You are all the same. Or at least…You should be."

"Ye-yes Lord Heartfilia, I'm sorry."

Number 7 could practically feel the moment when Lord Heartfilia mentally dismissed her as unimportant. She wouldn't be surprised if he forgot the conversation they'd just had. He simply continued with his speech. "When Layla returns she will teach you how to care for newborns as generation 56 will be unable to care for themselves for some time. As there is only one Layla, she will require your assistance."

Number 7 noticed that Number 3 had a cross look on her face. Though she thankfully didn't say anything out loud, Number 7 could practically hear her question why they had to help Miss Layla when she had been able to take care of six newborns by herself.

"Do remember, this new generation is an improvement upon yours in every way. Should any unfortunate 'accidents' happen with regards to the new generation know that I will not hesitate to deal with any insubordination swiftly and if necessary permanently. Is that understood?"

"Yes Lord Heartfilia." The five of them answered in one voice.

"Good. One of you will remain with me, the rest may go."

There was a flurry of quick and subtle glances before Number 7 was silently chosen to remain, likely because she'd been the one to speak up earlier. The other four left without a backwards glance. Lord Heartfilia stared at her for a bit before going to the desk and pulling out some papers.

"Strip."

Inwardly Number 7 breathed a sigh of relief and followed his orders. It looked like he was just going to do a regular examination. He did those often, about once every three months.

By now everything was standard. Marking down height, weight, temperature: a check up on her eyes, ears, teeth: taking samples of blood, spit, marrow, urine and stool. This time he wanted to take an egg sample. Again, it wasn't unusual though it was less common than the other samples. He only took an egg sample from them once a year. Number 7 always found it to be very uncomfortable though and was glad that it only happened once a year. At least it was never as painful as the marrow samples he always took. That part was always the worst.

Then Lord Heartfilia did something completely unexpected. He pulled out a milky white crystal and handed it to her. It fit easily in both her hands and was round but with flat edges. He placed another identical crystal on the counter before pulling out two stopwatches. One went by the second crystal while he held the other in his hand, ready to start it.

"When I give the order, fill the Lacrima with all the magic you have as quickly as possible."

Number 7 barely managed to nod before Lord Heartfilia gave her the order to start. Despite her nod, she froze. What was she supposed to do? He had made it sound easy; just put her magic into the Larcima, or whatever it was called. But how was she supposed to do it?

Needless to say, Number 7 spent several precious seconds silently panicking. She tried closing her eyes and meditating like Miss Layla had taught them, but it was difficult to reach that relaxed state while under a time limit. The constant ticking of the stopwatch worked to both irritate her and to remind her that she was under pressure. When she did manage to do it, meditating proved to be useless, most of her magic would just go into the air around her. She kept her eyes closed, unwilling to look like she was giving up.

The stopwatch kept ticking. Number 7 could practically feel Lord Heartfilia's harsh and judging gaze crawl across her skin.

Desperately, she tried just shoving her magic into the crystal. It was weird, felt awkward and made her hands tingle unpleasantly but it seemed like was working. She kept doing it.

It felt like forever before she ran out of magic. Only when there was nothing left did she open her eyes, gasping. "I-I can't…" She couldn't feel her fingers and there was a deep ache in her hands.

With a click the ticking stopped. Lord Heartfilia plucked the crystal out of her now red hands. She was glad of that; she felt that she'd drop it at any moment. Even without the weight of the crystal her hands were shaky and sore. Her heavy breathing didn't help, it felt like she needed her entire body to take a breath. It still felt like she couldn't get enough air.

There was another click as he started the second stopwatch, for whatever reason. "1 minute 57 seconds…" He muttered as he leaned over the counter, scribbling it down on the paper.

Number 7's shoulders drooped. That hadn't been long at all. Did she really have so little magic that it was all gone in less than 2 minutes? Maybe she had done it wrong?

Lord Heartfilia wasn't saying anything else, he was only looking at the second stopwatch intently. She gently shook out her hands, trying to get feeling back into her fingers. Number 7 stopped when he glanced up at her though. She should know better than to fidget around Lord Heartfilia.

She glanced at the counter were the crystals were. The one she'd filled with her magic was now a vibrant shade of pink. It was a nice color, a happy color. She liked it. Maybe if she asked, Lord Heartfilia would let her keep it.

She didn't have much more time to think on it. As soon as her breathing evened out he clicked off the stopwatch, recorded it and shoved the second crystal in her hands with orders to do it again.

Number 7 didn't last as long the second time. Even without the stopwatch she knew it, her magic hadn't recovered much. She was right; her time was 10 seconds. The crystal was still mostly white, though she thought there was a pinkish tinge to it. It was hard to focus though, her head was pounding in time with her heartbeat.

Before she could ask about keeping the first crystal he quickly grabbed both it and the second one and changed them back to white. She wasn't sure how, but then again he was Lord Heartfilia, it made sense that he could reset them. And Number 7 had been right, the second crystal had been slightly pinker than it was supposed to be.

He pulled out a paper band and attached it around her wrist and said that she wasn't to take it off today. Lord Heartfilia then ordered her to get dressed and to send in another Lucy when she was done.

As she hurried to follow his orders, she'd never been so happy to not have any buttons or ties. It hurt to move her hands, even when all she was doing was pulling on a dress. Lord Heartfilia was likely becoming impatient with her fumbling and slowness at following directions, but she didn't dare look at him to see if that was the case.

As soon as she could, she left the room and returned to where she and the rest of the Lucys slept. Hopefully she'd find the others there but mostly she wanted to find her bed. It was only nearly noon and she just wanted to sleep.

She wanted to cry when she saw that there was no one in the room. Her bed was right there, waiting for her to crawl into it. But she couldn't, not without getting in trouble with Lord Heartfilia. With a groan she turned and went to the library. Number 8 should be there. Hopefully.

Normally she'd love going to the library. Number 7 would spend all day in there if she was allowed. Now that she knew how to read incredible new worlds opened up to her. Number 8 was much like her in that regards, though she preferred looking at books that made her smarter rather than stories about adventures.

Right now though Number 7 really did just want to sleep the whole day away. With any luck, Number 8 wouldn't mind telling the other Lucys that Lord Heartfilia was expecting them. It'd be nice if she only needed to track down one Lucy. With that thought in mind, Number 7 turned and left their room and her bed and made her way to the library.


	4. Chapter 4

Number 7 didn't find Number 8 in the library. She found Number 10.

"Please?" She rubbed tiredly at her eyes. "All you need to do is find the others and tell them."

"No way. You're the messenger here, not me. Don't be lazy, find them yourself."

With a sigh she gave in. "Do you at least know where they are?"

"Nope," she popped the p sound annoyingly before grinning broadly. "Good luck." With that she wandered off, going away from where the exam room was.

Number 7 groaned. She knew for a fact that Number 10 was going to stall and put off going to Lord Heartfilia till she was the last one. She always did. She'd also probably lie and say she was the last one to know about the exam too. Number 7 knew she should have just ignored her as soon as she figured out that she was talking to Number 10. At least she didn't lie and say she was going to tell them. Then again, Number 7 was expecting her to do that.

She yawned as she, once more, started to search the large building for the other Lucys. Although she knew she should be thorough, whenever she saw a closed door she just couldn't bring herself to open it. Her hands hurt too much and they were starting to look swollen.

It was when she was walking down another seemingly endless hallway that her luck seemed to take a positive turn. Number 7 perked up at seeing a blonde head at the end of the hallway.

"Lucy! Wait up!" Unfortunately the other Lucy didn't seem to hear her. She kept walking. Number 7 huffed and hurried after her. "I said wait!"

"What?" The other Lucy snapped as she turned sharply to face Number 7.

Number 7 winced at her tone. "Number 3?" she guessed. She thought it was a good guess; Number 3 was the crabbiest out of all the Lucys.

The other Lucy scoffed. "Number 10. Get it right."

She blinked in surprise. "Really? Oh, well…did you find any of the others?"

"Why're you looking for them?"

"Lord Heartfilia needs them." Why was Number 10 acting so confused?

"What does he need us for?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

Number 10 cocked an eyebrow. "This is the first time I've seen you since the meeting."

"But…" She told Number 10 about the exam, she knows she did…Unless it wasn't Number 10? But the Lucy in the library said she was Number 10… Maybe Number 7 had been mistaken? Number 10 looked genuinely confused. "Oh, uh well, Lord Heartfilia wants to examine us. He also wants us to fill up a crystal with our magic. I thought I told you?"

"Well you didn't."

"Weren't you in the library?"

"Why would I be in there?"

Number 10 had a point; unlike herself and Number 8, Number 10 avoided books like the plague. "But I thought…Never mind. Could you go to Lord Heartfilia? He's been waiting a while. And if you find any of the others, could you tell them too?"

"Why would I? That's your job."

"But…"

"Don't be lazy, Lord Heartfilia told you to find them yourself. But thanks for telling me, I'll go to Lord Heartfilia…Eventually." With that, Number 10 stalked off, in a direction that wouldn't lead her to Lord Heartfilia's exam room. Leaving Number 7 with the oddest feeling that this had all happened before.

She stood there in the hall for a while, rubbing her eyes and trying to think. She had been positive that the girl in the library had been Number 10. Unless another one lied to her? But there wasn't any reason for them to do that. More than that, she'd acted so much like Number 10 that Number 7 almost hadn't needed to be told her number.

However, she had just met Number 10 who also acted so much like Number 10. Number 7 was too tired to know what to think about that. Maybe she had dreamed the first encounter? She shook her head to clear it. She couldn't pinch herself to wake up; it hurt too much to move her fingers for that, instead she bit her lip as hard as she dared. It didn't really help. All the same she started looking again.

Number 7 ran into Number 10 two more times. Each time the other Lucy had no idea what she was talking about. It was enough to nearly drive Number 7 to tears. It didn't help that she was so tired it felt like she was going cross eyed.

She really did break down crying when she explained herself to Number 10 for the fifth time.

"What's the matter with you?" Even though she was upset, Number 7 could hear laughter in Number 10's voice.

Number 7 hiccupped, "you're- you're doing this on pa-purpose, aren't you?"

"Doing what? Stop being such a crybaby. You said it was just an exam."

"So that's why you were running in circles." A third identical voice spoke up. Number 7 and Number 10 looked to the side to see two more Lucys. One of them had her arms crossed and was scowling at Number 10 while the other held several books and looked indifferent.

"Should have known you were being cruel, 10." The girl with her arms crossed scolded.

"What? I was just having a little fun."

"You made her cry!" The angry one snapped.

Number 10 scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault Number 7's a baby…or that she's too stupid to know when she's being tricked."

"I'm not stupid!" Number 7 sniffed. "I'm tired and my hands hurt and Lord Heartfilia's going to be so mad…" She shook her head to get her thoughts back on track, "But I'm not stupid!"

"Whatever," Number 10 scoffed, "this was getting boring anyway." With that she turned and walked away again. "I'll see Lord Heartfilia later."

The other two Lucys turned their attention back to Number 7. The one with the books peered at her hands. "What kind of examination was it? Your hands look irritated." Number 7 wasn't surprised to find that she was Number 8.

"It was normal. And he wanted an egg sample. Then he pulled out these crystals…Larcima?"

"Lacrima." Number 8 corrected.

"Whatever. He wanted me to fill it with as much magic as I could as fast as I could." Number 7 frowned. "I don't think I did too good."

"Well." Number 8 corrected again, "you don't think you did too well."

The other Lucy had a frown on her face as she gently grabbed Number 7's arm. "Hey 8, could you find 3 and tell her about this? I'll go to Lord Heartfilia after I take 7 back to the room."

Number 8 nodded. "I'll see if I can research what kind of Lacrima he's using as well."

The third Lucy chuckled at Number 8's retreating back. "Any reason to be in the library, right?" She turned to Number 7. "Come on, we shouldn't keep Lord Heartfilia waiting any longer."

"Thanks Number…5?" Despite what she'd said earlier, Number 7 felt kind of stupid. There was only five of them; she should have figured out which Lucy was who just from that conversation. But her mind felt sluggish and everything seemed like it was taking longer than it should.

"Anytime 7." They walked in silence for a while. Number 7 was very thankful for Number 5's guiding hands, because even though she walked these halls every day Number 7 would probably have gotten lost on the way to their room. She even almost missed it when Number 5 started talking again. "8 was right though, your hands don't look so good."

"They don't feel so good. I don't think I did it right."

"Did Lord Heartfilia do anything to help?"

"Why would he?"

"Cause you got hurt doing it."

Number 7 was pretty sure Lord Heartfilia didn't care if she got hurt or not. After all, there were four other Lucys around. "Probably cause I did it wrong. I tried to meditate but that didn't work. So then I just pushed as much magic as I could into it. I don't think that was right."

Number 5 nodded. "Okay, I'll try to think of a better way. Maybe it's like Miss Layla's keys?"

Number 7 blinked in surprise. "I didn't think of that," she should have though. "But I didn't think the…ah…crystal thing had magic. I didn't check." It would have been easier if she had. If the crystal had its own magic then she could have just made a bridge between its magic and her own rather than forcing hers into it. Like breaking through a wall when there was an open door.

"I'll check and let the others know." They paused at the door to let Number 5 open it; Number 7 could barely keep her eyes open, much less open a door. As it was, in those few seconds without Number 5 supporting her, it had felt like she was going to fall to the floor at any moment. "I'll bandage your hands up before I go, okay?"

"I don't care. I just want to sleep."

"Alright, I'll see you when you wake up then."

"Kay."


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone was asleep when Number 7 woke up. She was still groggy, but at the moment her hunger outweighed her need for sleep. It felt like she could eat all the food in the manor. Number 7 knew she'd slept through lunch but she didn't know if she missed dinner or not. There weren't any windows and because everyone else was asleep there were no lights on either. Not that it mattered they didn't have a clock in their room, Lord Heartfilia didn't think it was important.

Despite the lack of windows in the room, it wasn't completely dark. There were little light crystals attached to the bottom of all the furniture, letting Number 7 see where they were. It was helpful for late night bathroom trips and the dim lighting let her see the other four sleeping girls. Out of habit, her sleepy eyes lingered on the empty bed number 4, where there should have been a fifth sleeping girl. She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts; Miss Layla had said that it wasn't good to dwell on those kinds of thoughts.

Number 7 tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes only to flinch when her hand made contact with her face. She hadn't expected to feel the texture of the bandages on her hands and she'd forgotten that they were hurt to begin with. Number 5 must have bandaged them after she'd fallen asleep. Thankfully though, they didn't hurt as badly as they had before. They still ached however.

Her stomach growled, reminding her why she woke up to begin with. She got out of the bed as quietly as she could and, with practiced ease, made her way through the dark room to the door. Because of the bandages, it took a little while for her to get a good grip on the knob but when she finally did she wanted to cry. The movement had made her hands hurt more, but that pain was tolerable and wasn't why she was upset.

The door was locked.

Lord Heartfilia only ever locked them in their room when he was punishing them. Unfortunately for Number 7, she had a feeling she knew why they were being punished. It was all her fault; she should have found the other Lucys faster and she should have seen through Number 10's trick. She shouldn't have kept Lord Heartfilia waiting for so long.

With a defeated sigh she went to the bathroom. With the door locked, there was no way she'd be able to sneak into the kitchens and even if she was still a bit tired, she was too awake to go back to sleep. She figured that a bath would at least distract her from her hunger and the rest of the impending punishment. Lord Heartfilia never left a punishment at just locking them in their room. Number 7 shivered at the thought. While he had never permanently hurt any of them, his punishments were never pleasant or something she wanted to go through again.

One time he'd locked them in the graveyard. It was the only time she could remember ever seeing Number 10 cry.

She shook the memory from her head and started filling bath number 7. It was never a good idea to think about the graveyard. Doing so only led to more nightmares about it. Instead she sat on the edge of the tub and undid the bandages Number 5 had put on her. Her hands were still red, but they did look a lot better than they did before. Number 7 also noticed the paper bracelet Lord Heartfilia had given her. He'd ordered her to keep it on for that day, however, she didn't know how long she'd slept so she didn't know if she could take it off. She bit her lip and decided to keep it on. It'd be fine so long as she didn't get that hand wet.

Of course, being able to only use one hand made it hard to play in the water. It wasn't long before she forgot and the paper became soaked. At that point she figured it didn't matter if it got even wetter, it was already ruined.

They didn't have very many toys to play with, and very few of those could go into the water, so Number 7 instead played with the soap bar and shampoo bottles. Sometime after the paper bracelet dissolved into a gross mush but before her fingers got all wrinkly, another Lucy woke up.

"Can I play too?"

Number 7 looked up to see Number 5 standing next to her bath. Without their clothes on it was easier to see who was who. The white identification numbers on their chest, while small and difficult to spot at times, was the only difference between the two girls. With a small smile and a nod, Number 7 scooted over so Number 5 would have room to climb in. As Number 5 did so, Number 7 noticed that the other girl had already taken off her paper bracelet. Her eyes flicked towards the wet pile that sat on the side of the tub; at least she wouldn't have to fish out any more soaked paper.

"The door's locked." She told the other one.

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm sorry."

Number 5 shrugged. "It's not your fault. 10 was being mean. How're your hands?"

"Better. Yours?" Number 5's hands looked fine, from what Number 7 could see. But that didn't mean that they were.

"They didn't get hurt. The Lacrima was like Miss Layla's keys."

"Oh," her shoulders sagged. She really should have thought about something like that. Number 10 was right the other day; she was kind of stupid.

"It's okay. I checked in on the others before coming in, it looks like 10 didn't know either. Her hands where the same as yours. I bandaged them up just now."

Number 7 frowned, "I guess Number 3 and Number 8 weren't able to tell her…" Then again Number 10 had more than enough time to think about that test.

Number 5 flicked a soap bubble. "Or they didn't want to…" she grumbled. "Which sucks, cause she's hurt now and I don't like it when you guys get hurt."

"I don't either…" Number 7 fiddled with Mr. Conditioner Bottle. The thought that the other two would have intentionally kept Number 10 in the dark about how to pass the crystal magic test made her stomach twist. Even if Number 10 played mean tricks on them, that didn't mean she should get hurt. "How did it go for you?"

The other girl shrugged. "It went okay. The Lacrima is sort of like a rainbow; it goes from white to red to orange and such. First time I went up to green. I only got orange next." That just made Number 7 feel worse. Yes she did it wrong and yes out of all the Lucys it was common knowledge that Number 5 had the most magic but still…

"I… only got to pink." It was not a very good sign that she couldn't even get rid of the crystal's whiteness.

Number 5 patted her shoulder. The cooling water that clung to her hand left goosebumps on Number 7's skin. "It'll be okay, let's wait to see how the others did."

"I don't think they could do worse."

"You never know. Besides he could just be testing how fast we get our magic back. You know, I think you're the only one who managed to get anywhere close to the same color both times!"

She gave her mirror image a dry look. "I don't think that's how it works…"

"Well next time he tests us you'll know how to do it right."

"If he tests us on that next time." Number 5 huffed and crossed her arms. Number 7 could see that the other Lucy was not going to give in to Number 7's doubts. "Anyway, if he's testing our magic, do you think he'll let us summon some spirits?" Other than the golden key for Cancer, Miss Layla had two silver keys: Crux and Lyra.

Number 5 wrinkled her nose. "I hope not. I get that you love them but it's just…So weird! And creepy!"

She blinked in surprise at that. "How is it creepy?"

"It just is! They're not human and- and you go and pull them from whatever they were doing before." She gestured with her hands, splashing the water around with her motions. "Why are they bound to their keys? Why do they obey us? If you have a key then you have an instant servant. It's just…creepy."

Number 7 pulled her knees up to her chin and muttered. "I don't think they're creepy."

"Which is why you should be the one to use the keys."

She frowned at Number 5. "I doubt Lord Heartfilia will just let me use them. If anyone is going to get them after Miss Layla is gone, it'll probably be you."

"Well I shouldn't. And I'll tell him that."

"What? But I'm the worst possible person for something like that! And to go against Lord Heartfilia-"

"You don't know that. And I don't think it should be a big deal. It's not like he cares which of us does what."

Number 7 frowned at the sudden bitterness in Number 5's voice. "What's wrong?"

"I've…been thinking…You know how Miss Layla sometimes still reads us stories? And they sometimes have families in them? Aren't we…Kind of like that? Sort of like…Sisters?"

"I…" Number 7 frowned, she honestly hadn't thought of it in that manner. "Where are you going with this?"

"It's just, no matter what kind of story, they're all different- sisters I mean. And if we're sisters than why do we have to be the same? I don't want to summon Celestial Spirits. You do, you love doing it, but I want to use a different magic!"

What Number 5 was talking about was scary. It was going against everything Lord Heartfilia wanted them to be. And honestly, Number 7 couldn't imagine using a magic that wasn't Celestial; she couldn't imagine not having a friend just a key swipe away. However, Number 5 was so passionate about it, she couldn't help but ask: "what kind of magic do you want?"

She was almost disappointed when Number 5 shrugged. "I don't know, I did look in the library, there wasn't any books on stuff like that. The only ones I know of are Celestial Spirit summoning and Lord Heartfilia's." They both gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of his magic. Number 7 doubted it was something Number 5 wanted to learn, or if she even could learn it. Number 5 shook it off. "But I know there has to be other types out there! There just has to be!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna ask Miss Layla when she comes back. And if Lord Heartfilia wants me to use her keys, then I'm going to say no. I won't let him make me do it either."

Number 7 bit her lip at that declaration. Number 5 wanted to go directly against Lord Heartfilia's wishes. "I…Be careful…" Her voice sounded weak and small, especially in the face of Number 5's determination.

However, Number 7 couldn't think of anything else to say or do to help Number 5 out. At least nothing that wouldn't also be going against Lord Heartfilia. Her stomach twisted with worry at what might happen to Number 5 and filled with guilt and shame at the realization that she wasn't nearly as brave as the girl in front of her was. All she could do was offer superficial words of encouragement.

Number 5 just smiled in an understanding way and hugged her. Neither cared that the action caused cooled water to splash from the tub and onto the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

"…And this is my daughter, Lucy."

Lucy smiled up at the lady Miss Layla was talking to. "Hello, it's nice to meet you." The nine year old chirped.

"Oh my! Such a polite young lady. You and Jude must be very proud."

Lucy almost got confused at that comment, before recalling that Jude was what Lord Heartfilia was calling himself. Not that she could call him that. Outside the manor grounds he was father. Just as Miss Layla was to be called mother.

Miss Layla giggled behind her hand. "Oh we are! And not just her. My little lucky Lucy here is a big sister."

"No!"

"Yes! Although," she paused laughing some more. "There was a little mix up, my youngest somehow also wound up being named Lucy."

The lady she was talking to laughed along with Miss Layla, though Miss Layla's laughter was much more forced. It hadn't been funny at the time, when they found that the 56th generation had been labeled as her generation. Lucy had never seen Lord Heartfilia so angry before.

Thankfully they could get away with telling others that there were now two Lucys in the family. It wasn't an unusual thing, apparently, though from what Miss Layla had told them, it was usually done for male heirs to protect the family inheritance. Or something like that. Lucy hadn't really understood. However, as long as it worked out, it probably didn't matter.

Soon enough Miss Layla finished talking with the other lady. With a gentle tug on Lucy's hand, she led them out of the store. Miss Layla's other hand was carrying a bag filled with the things they'd bought, mostly writing supplies that Lord Heartfilia wanted. Now that their errands were complete, they started on their path back to the manor.

As they walked, Lucy carefully looked around to make sure there was no one nearby. There wasn't, but all the same, she tugged at Miss Layla's hand and spoke quietly. "Mi-mother, why're we the only replaceable ones?" She'd been thinking about it for a while; ever since that talk in the tub three years ago. Going outside and meeting with other people that weren't like them just made her think about it even more.

"Because, my little lucky one, the Heartfilia family has a mission. One that can only be carried out by a Heartfilia Celestial mage. This is simply your father's way of making sure it can be completed."

"What's the mission?"

"Hmm…I'll tell you when you're older. For now, just know that it was given to us by your father's sister-in-law: Lady Leanna."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"It's not something I would want you to worry about. More than that, I would like to see if I can be the one to complete it. If I do not succeed, then rest assured that I will tell you everything." She paused in their walking, pulling Lucy to a stop. Miss Layla gently squeezed her hand and knelt so that she could look Lucy in the eyes. "However, if at all possible, I would like you to keep that to yourself. I…don't want to let your father down should I be unable to fulfil Lady Leanna's task."

"So it'll be a surprise for him?"

Miss Layla gave a small soft smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Yes." She straitened and they once more started walking back.

"Do the others know?"

"No, my little lucky one, they have not asked yet."

"What'll happen to us if you do complete the mission?"

"Hm…Well, I can't say for sure what L-your father will want to do. However it's my hope that he'll stop creating new generations and allow you to live your own lives."

"What if he just…disposes of us?" Like what he did to Lucy Number 5.

Miss Layla paused once more. Though she didn't kneel again, she looked at Lucy with such a serious expression that the little girl couldn't help but feel intimidated. "Then you will take my keys and you will run." Lucy swallowed nervously and Miss Layla tugged her along as they resumed walking.

The woman's face softened and she had a small smile on her face like nothing was wrong but Miss Layla wasn't done. Her voice while quiet was still just as serious. "He is not so powerful and all mighty outside of the manor grounds. While he does have influence, it isn't as absolute as it is within his domain. Though we do live in the center of his property, it is still escapable. He has his eyes everywhere save in your rooms and the bathrooms, but if you're sneaky you can still prepare and plan."

She gave a reassuring squeeze to Lucy's hand before continuing. "And if the worst happens, please talk to the others, take them with you if you can. But don't force them if they don't want to, it would be dangerous for you if you do." She smiled down at Lucy, her smile was more genuine than before. "Understand?"

Lucy nodded mutely. She did, but at the same time she didn't. It was a lot for her to take in and the thought of leaving the Heartfilia manor and never coming back was strange to think about. Miss Layla also talked about preparing, but Lucy wouldn't know where to start.

"It's alright, my little lucky number. I doubt he'll do that. That's not how he thinks."

"Okay," her voice sounded small and shaky. However, Miss Layla was acting like nothing was wrong, so she should as well. Lucy nervously licked her lips and changed the subject. "Why do you keep calling me that? Lucky, I mean." She clarified at Miss Layla's confused glance. "The new ones are better than us in every way, right? And the new Number 7 woke up as well, so, wouldn't she be luckier than me?"

Miss Layla gave a little laugh, though it sounded strangely sad. "That's not quite how it works."

"What do you mean?"

Miss Layla opened her mouth to answer, but she spotted the gates to the Heartfilia property looming in the distance. "We're almost home, my little lucky number. Remember, please don't tell anyone about the conversation we just had. Or about what might happen after. Don't even write it down. Alright?"

"Yes, Miss Layla."

"Promise me you won't let anyone know."

"I promise."

"Good, now when we get inside go write everything but that down in the Journal so you don't forget it."

"I know Miss Layla."

Ever since the 56th generation woke up, Lord Heartfilia had been adamant that the Lucys of the 55th generation be completely interchangeable with each other. Every day they had to wear the same clothes. They had to have their hair in the exact same way. They even had to talk the same way, much to the annoyance of the Lucy formally known as Number 8. If one was better at something than the others, the rest had to work harder to match. This also meant they had to write in the Journal.

The Journal was shared with all of them. If one of them interacted with anyone from outside their generation, that Lucy would have to write it down so that the other three would know exactly what happened. It was so that any one of them could seamlessly take the place of another one with little notice.

Of course, in the two or so years they've been writing in the Journal; they'd already filled up three of them. Despite the fact that they wrote as small as they could and they wrote in an abbreviated, coded language that took less time and space than traditional writing. Lucy suspected they'd fill up dozens of Journals before Lord Heartfilia would decide that they were too obsolete and dispose of them. The filled Journals were disposed of as well; they all memorized them and then the paper filled books were burned. Not that it took much memorization, it's what they did whenever a Lucy finished writing in it regardless.

Despite Lord Heartfilia's insistence that everything be written down in the Journal, Miss Layla's request for silence was not all that unusual or difficult to do. It was relatively pointless to write about the conversations between Miss Layla and a Lucy, seeing as she already knew there were four of them wandering around. More than that, for the most part all the Lucys would be in the same place as Miss Layla, so they'd already know what would be written down. Even for this trip, most of what happened was simply about them walking. The only things Lucy would really have to be careful about was the brief conversations Layla had had with people in the town.

By the time they'd reached the large front doors of the foyer, Lucy had organized and mentally written out the events that would need to be shared. This wasn't hard and the walk from the gate to the manor was much longer than the walk from the town to the gate. They separated after they entered; Miss Layla to deliver Lord Heartfilia's items and Lucy to document everything that happened during the time they left the manor door to the time they reentered it.


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy entered the room she and the other Lucys would likely have for only another year. No one else was there, which wasn't that big of a surprise. They'd all been spending less and less time in the room. Which made sense, considering they had to help Miss Layla take care of the 56th generation.

The Journal rested innocently on desk number 1. It seemed like the place to keep it as the only Lucy Number 1 didn't know how to write yet. With a sigh Lucy opened the book and rapidly flipped through the pages until she found the end of the last entry. Apparently blank books like this one used to be just white sheets of paper; this one wasn't. While the page was wordless, there were faint lines going across each page to help the writer keep their words even and straight. Lucy and the others quickly learned to write small enough to fit three lines of text between each guide line.

Lucy quickly got to work. Documenting her outing wasn't particularly difficult, but it was tedious. It took maybe 20 minutes for her to finish, though most of that had been taken up by describing the people so that the other Lucys could recognize them. It was also very boring; both when she was writing in the Journal and when she was reading it. Lucy would honestly much rather write something else, something fun. However the Journal was the only thing they could write in at the moment. Anything else would be too individual. Lucy hoped that would change when they left their current bedroom. Miss Layla had said they'd be getting individual rooms, though Lucy figured they'd still be identical.

When she finished Lucy stuck the pencil in the Journal, between the first pages she'd written in, marking the spot. That way it'd be easier for the next Lucy to find the spot without having to flip through the entire thing. She wished the other Lucys would do that as well.

With that done she went to her favorite place. The manors large library. Thankfully, because she went out with Miss Layla, it meant she didn't have to help the others take care of the 56th generation today, meaning she could stay there until dinner. That meant she could either take her time and read through half a book or use a magic item, something called Gale-Force Reading Glasses, and finish six.

Lucy pouted to herself as she thought about this on the way to the library. On the one hand, she enjoyed the books more and could remember them better when she wasn't using the Glasses. However, on the other hand, she didn't have all that much free time anymore. Between their lessons, practicing taking each other's places and helping to take care of 8 two year olds; Lucy was lucky to even look at a book other than the Journal.

She nibbled at her lip. There was also the question of what to read, but that was a lot easier to answer than how to read it. The library was vast and full of all sorts of books. However it, unfortunately, wasn't organized in any sort of way. The best method she and the others had found was simply grabbing a book at random and reading the first chapter, if they were divided into chapters.

The large doors to the library opened with a soft creak. She'd never understood why they needed such big doors; they nearly went to the ceiling and were twice as wide as normal doors. Lucy had never needed to open them very much, just enough to let herself in. She gently closed the door with an equally soft click. Miss Layla had once told them how public libraries elsewhere had a strict policy on being quiet. Although, even before then she and the others usually stayed silent in the large room, though the initial reason why escaped Lucy.

She was a bit startled to find that there was another Lucy in the large room. She hadn't thought that any of the other Lucys would be free at the moment. The other Lucy had the Glasses on and a large stack of books was right next to her. Lucy smiled, because there was only one other Lucy who enjoyed spending time reading and she was the one Lucy got along with the most.

She waved but the other Lucy was too engrossed in her reading to notice. That was fine, she wasn't really expecting a response, but it made her feel better to try. She decided to follow that Lucy's example; she gathered several interesting looking books as well as another pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses and sat down near her still reading counterpart.

She didn't put the Glasses on right away, preferring to see if the first book she picked up was worth savoring or not. It wasn't so she slipped it underneath the Glasses and grabbed the next book to test. She tested three more books before a voice identical to her own interrupted her.

"Oh, you're back."

She glanced up. The other Lucy had finished her stack and was now peering at her through her Glasses; she never usually bothered taking them off when she was in the library.

"Yep, I'm surprised to see you here. I didn't think anyone else would have the day off."

The other Lucy shrugged. "I don't think it matters. The other two can deal with things just fine."

"But if Lord Heartfilia finds out…" It was a silly thing to wonder about; Lord Heartfilia always finds out about these sort of things.

"Why would he? If we're all interchangeable what does it matter if I spend all day reading so long as I know what they did later?"

"But he'll know if only two Lucys are doing the work when there should be three."

She grimaced, "true…but it wasn't like there was that much work to do anyway."

"I don't think that's the point."

"Why does it matter to you so much? You have the day off today."

"I just don't want you to end up like Number 5."

They both fell silent at that. The day Lord Heartfilia disposed of Number 5 was one of the worst days any of the Lucys could ever remember. Lucy thought it was on par with the day that Number 4 had to be taken away for good.

"Yeah…I know," the other Lucy muttered. "I just…I wanted to know something…"

Lucy nodded. That Lucy always wanted to know things, it was why she was always reading. "I know." The lapsed into a brief silence once more. She stared into space thinking, while the other Lucy fidgeted. "Hey, I think it'd be alright if you went back."

The other girl frowned. "What'd you mean?"

"If you go back now and help the others like you'd never stopped, then I think it'll be okay."

"Hmm…maybe."

She nodded again. "I think you should go now."

The other girl sighed, "fine, if you insist. Just let me put the books away."

"I can do that."

"You don't know where I got them from."

"Does it matter? You finished them, didn't you?"

"I guess not…just make sure they're all together. It'll be easier to find them later."

"Okay. Don't forget to put the Glasses away."

She rolled her eyes. "I won't. Once was bad enough." They both shivered at the memory. "Maybe I'll ask Miss Layla about how to organize the library. I spent most of the time trying to find those books." She muttered as she left, pointedly taking off the Gale-Force Reading Glasses and sticking them with the eight other Gale-Force Reading Glasses that rested on a desk.

Lucy smiled at the other Lucy's retreating back. She hoped they wouldn't get into trouble. Lord Heartfilia was much stricter with them now than he used to be. If the four of them didn't act perfectly, they'd be punished. Thankfully it was usually a light punishment, nothing nearly as harsh as that one time he locked them in the graveyard. Lucy only hoped they'd never have a punishment like that again.

It was her turn to sigh as she looked at the pile of books the other Lucy left behind. There were nine of them. It'd be difficult to find a spot on the shelves that would fit all of them together; she'd have to move other books. She also didn't know where the other Lucy took the books to begin with, making it hard to find the empty spaces to shove the other books in as well. However as tempting as it was to just leave the stack of books on the table for next time, Lord Heartfilia wouldn't like it. He never liked it when they left stuff lying about outside their room. In any case, Lucy said she'd put them away, and that's what she'll do.

Before she set about the task she'd given herself, her curiosity got the better of her and Lucy looked into the books the other Lucy had so painstakingly tracked down. She couldn't help but frown in confusion as she read the titles.

Why on Earthland was the other Lucy so curious about sea life?


	8. Chapter 8

"I want to find out what the blue stuff is."

Lucy and the two other Lucys stared at the last Lucy in shock. Of all the answers for why that Lucy was risking Lord Heartfilia's wrath, it wasn't something Lucy was expecting.

"…Why?" The Lucy on bed number 3 asked, "it isn't like knowing what the blue stuff is matters." She was the only Lucy on that side of the room, the other four beds were no longer occupied. The Lucy everyone was looking at was between Lucy and the remaining Lucy.

"Didn't Miss Layla say it was ink?" Lucy added, from her place on bed number 7. It was after dinner, and the four of them had been sent to bed. Thankfully the Lucy on bed number 8 didn't get them all in trouble for skipping out on her duties in order to read.

"Ink doesn't act like that though, not even blue ink." The Lucy on bed number 8 huffed, crossing her arms. Lucy wondered if she was annoyed that the others weren't as curious as she was. "And ink's thicker than water."

"So? Just about everything's thicker than water." The Lucy who slept on bed number 10 grumbled. "Especially your head."

"So," the eighth Lucy gritted out, "it should be impossible to breathe in the blue stuff, yet it is."

"Is it?" Lucy wondered out loud, thinking about the fates of Number 4 and Number 5. "Because even if they didn't drown right away, being in the blue stuff is still what disposed of them."

"But they weren't disposed of by drowning. The blue stuff drained them of their magic and that's why they died. And ink doesn't drain magic either."

"Or glow." The Lucy on the other side of the room added.

"It only glows when draining magic though. It's nearly black when it doesn't."

"You know," the Lucy on the other side of the curious Lucy drawled, "you still didn't answer why you want to know."

"Because it's what's going to be what we'll wind up in. When Lord Heartfilia is tired of having us around, when we're too obsolete to keep, he's going to do to us what he did to the other two." She shrugged, "I just want to know what we'll spend out final moments in."

Lucy frowned at her blankets. It'd be a lie to say she hadn't thought about when and how they were going to be disposed of. However, she had never considered trying to know what the blue stuff was. "Is that the only reason?" It seemed very morbid, especially since that Lucy wasn't known for that sort of thinking.

"Well…I also want to know why Lord Heartfilia wants to drain our magic."

"Well it sort of makes sense, right?" The Lucy on the other side of the room spoke up. "It can't be that easy to make us, so it'd make sense that he'd get something out of us when we're obsolete…or traitorous." She ended with a mumble, glancing at bed number 5.

"Maybe magic does something to empty bodies?" Lucy wondered, but in all the books she'd read, whenever someone would die, others were never worried about the magic in their bodies. Unless it was different for them, having been created by Lord Heartfilia rather than born.

"Hmm, maybe it causes them to keep moving, making them seek out other sources of magic to consume." The Lucy on the other side of the middle Lucy chuckled. "In the dead of the night they'll come walking, searching for more sources of magic."

Lucy and the Lucy across the room both shuddered. "Don't talk about things like that!"

"Yeah, it's creepy."

"Oh please," bed 8's Lucy snorted. "You're making it sound like they'll become zombies."

"Are you saying they won't?" The girl in bed 10 challenged.

"I'm saying that, for one there hasn't been a documented sighting of a zombie for the last 100 years. For two all zombies are created from non-mages. And thirdly zombies are as useful as worms and about as mobile. Besides this has nothing to do with zombies."

"Stop saying zombies!" Lucy snapped, looking around the room just in case the other Lucy somehow summoned one by talking about it. "Anyway, if you're looking up stuff about ink, then why were you researching fishes?"

The Lucy next to her rolled her eyes. "Not fishes. There are only two creatures that make ink or ink like substances. Octopi and squids."

"Are you saying we'll be submerged in octopus juices?" The Lucy on her other side stuck her tongue out in disgust. "That's nasty! I don't want to be in octopus juice!"

The last Lucy on the other side of the room gave her a flat look and muttered; "I think it sounds worse when you say it like that."

"Probably not an octopus." The eighth Lucy continued, glaring slightly at the one next to her for interrupting. "None of the species have anything associated with their ink, magic wise or not. I was, however able to find information about a squid though. It doesn't quite fit all the way though."

"If it doesn't fit then why bother with it?"

"If you'd stop interrupting me maybe you'll know!"

"Then stop talking and just get on with it!"

"Lucys! Enough, Miss Layla will hear us." Lucy reminded the other two that slept on her side of the room.

On the other side the last Lucy spoke up. "That might be a good thing, we could just ask her."

"I did! We did! All she said was that the blue stuff was ink!" The Lucy next to Lucy snapped. She took a deep breath before clearing her throat. "Anyway. The only squid that really fit, sort of, is called the daydream squid. It has dark blue ink and contact with it causes hallucinations."

"Hallu-what?" The Lucy next to her asked.

"Vivid life like dreams that happen even if the person is awake."

"Hmm," Lucy recalled something that sounded familiar, back when Number 4 was first placed in the blue stuff. "Didn't Miss Layla say something like that? That when they were in the blue stuff they weren't dead but dreaming?"

The Lucy next to her nodded, excited that someone understood. "Exactly!"

The other Lucy on that side of the room rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you got the blue ink and the dreaming, but what about the most important one, the magic draining?"

"I don't know, maybe it's a hybrid or a mixed potion of some sort."

Lucy thought of the tube that had trapped Number 5 and held her in place while it filled up with the blue stuff. "That's a lot of potion."

"I know, if it's too much to make a lot of at once, then maybe we could, I don't know, figure out just how far we can push Lord Heartfilia." The others looked at the eighth Lucy in confusion. She huffed. "Think about it, if it takes like a week to make enough for one of us, then if two of us get all insubordinate then it'd be hard for him to dispose of both of us!"

"I don't know…" Lucy thought about the room where Number 4 and Number 5 had been disposed of. There'd been ten tall cylinders, more than enough for the rest of the 55th generation. "If it can't be done in groups of ten, I don't think Lord Heartfilia would bother with it."

"You don't know that."

"It's not that hard to figure out." The Lucy on the other side of the room said. "Literally everything that involves us comes in ten." She waved around the room, demonstrating her point.

"Not the Journal." The eighth Lucy supplied.

"Ug, can you imagine writing everything down ten times?" The tenth Lucy groaned.

Lucy tilted her head to the side in thought. "Wouldn't it be just nine? There wouldn't be much reason to write in your own."

"That's not much better. And knowing Lord Heartfilia, he would have us write in all of them."

"Can we get back on topic?" The Lucy next to Lucy snapped.

"What topic was that?" The Lucy on the other side of the room questioned.

"You mean the blue stuff?" Lucy spoke up next.

"Not much else about it to talk about. Unless you want to go to the tank room and look around to find it." The Lucy on the far side of the curious Lucy drawled.

Lucy scoffed. "Oh, don't be silly. She'd never suggest something like that." Not only was the tank room the place where Number 4 and Number 5 were disposed of, it was also fairly far away from their room and it was past their bed time.

"Actually…that is what I was thinking."

The Lucy on the other side of the room choked. "Wait, she's right? That Lucy's right? She's never right."

The always wrong Lucy blinked in surprise. "Yeah, I…didn't expect that." Then she grinned, "but I'm not complaining! Lets go!"

"What? Now?" Lucy squawked.

"When else would we be able to?" With that the two Lucys on her side of the room got up and went to the door.

In desperation to find another voice of reason, she turned to the Lucy on the opposite side. Her only response was a shrug. "May as well, this way I'll be able to look at the stars. I haven't been able to see them in forever."

"The door's not locked. Come on!"

Lucy groaned. "Fine! But let it be known I'm against this." With that she got up and joined the other three in leaving their cozy room for the outside. The only response she got was laughter from one of the other Lucys.


	9. Chapter 9

The tank room wasn't an actual room. Not in the sense that it was connected to the manor. It was a large building, hidden in the larger forest that covered the land behind the manor and the nearby mountains. It was a good ten minute walk away from the manor house. They lost one of the Lucys along the way. She didn't want to go into the forest, preferring to lay down on the nicely manicured lawn and stare up at the stars. The other Lucys let her be.

After that, it didn't take them that long before they reached the imposing stone structure. It was almost as tall as the manor, though the trees surrounding it still dwarfed the building. The door was large, thick and made of a heavy wood. Unlike the doors to the manor, this one didn't open on a hinge, it slid from side to side. It took two of them to move it enough so that they could enter. Lucy couldn't fathom how Lord Heartfilia had been able to open the door with only one hand.

The three of them didn't enter right away. They took a moment to look around the room from the doorway, just in case there was something they could see.

The room was dark; the only light was from the moon, even then there wasn't much of it. The little bit of light that did enter was mottled and broken up by the trees outside. Even if it wasn't the place where they'd go to be disposed of, Lucy thought it'd still be creepy. Large empty glass tubes reflected and warped light. The shadows hid cables that Lucy knew went from the tubes to elsewhere. One of them, she knew, was were the blue stuff came from.

They couldn't see much farther past the tubes, the rest of the room was a fathomless black void. For the life of her, Lucy couldn't recall what was beyond what they could see. Every other time she'd been in the room, her entire focus had been on the tubes and the Lucys that had gone into them.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered.

"Shh."

"Keep it down, you big baby." Despite their intentions, Lucy thought the other two somehow managed to be louder than she was.

Lucy bit her lip. She didn't want to enter the tank room, she was just fine with leaving the blue stuff as just a mystery. However, one of the other Lucys, the one that first hushed her, was tugging on her arm, dragging her inside. The other was pushing at her back, leaving her with little choice but to go along with them.

They quickly moved away from the door to let more light in. It didn't help, the room stayed stubbornly dark. If she strained her eyes, Lucy would swear she could see flashes of bright blue and green in the distance. However, she dismissed it as her imagination. It didn't make her feel better about being in the building though.

Licking her lips in nervousness she whispered: "what now?"

"Don't know," the Lucy holding her hand replied. "…It's really dark in here."

"I wish we'd brought a light."

"Why didn't you bring one?" The Lucy behind her hissed.

"This wasn't my idea!"

"Shut up!" the other two hissed at her. Lucy huffed but let them lead her farther inside the tank room.

"I think," the Lucy in front of her started, "we should follow the cables. That's where the ink comes from."

"Is it?" The one behind Lucy challenged.

"Well…It comes from the bottom of the tube right? And that's where the cables attach to."

Lucy could see more flashes of blue and green, she really hoped it was her eyes playing tricks on her in the darkness. "I think I should wait outside with Lucy. The stars did look pretty tonight."

Both the Lucys tightened their grips on her. "Nope." The one holding her shoulders chirped.

"I don't think Lord Heartfilia would dispose of three of us at the same time."

She hadn't even been thinking of Lord Heartfilia's possible punishment. Lucy shivered as she recalled Miss Layla's words from earlier that day. Did he know that the four of them were outside? That three were in the tank room?

Lucy yelped as the Lucy behind her kicked the back of her leg. "Let's go, stop stalling."

The one in front of her turned and frowned at Lucy. "Are you really not at all curious about the ink?"

"I just don't think it's worth finding out about," she muttered. Despite that, she knelt down next to one of the tubes to look at the cables with the other two. "Not if it means loosing someone." Or all of them. That wouldn't be fair to the Lucy that stayed outside stargazing.

The other one huffed. "Well, learning things is all about taking risks. That's what some books say. So this just means we'll learn a lot." Lucy thought there was something wrong with that logic, but before she could point that out, the other one started speaking.

"Feels like there's three cables. Two big ones and a little one." The Lucy who'd kicked her poked her arm. "You can follow the little one. It probably doesn't go anywhere important."

Lucy sighed but took the offer for what it was; if the small cable wasn't important, she might not get into as much trouble as the other two. It was probably the nicest thing that that Lucy had ever done for anyone else. Or perhaps not, since that Lucy decided to follow the one cable that went in a different direction.

Lucy found herself following along with the Lucy who started this whole expedition as they went along the two cables. Because of the lack of light, they had to use their hands to find the cable and crawl along on their knees to keep contact with it.

"Do they all go to the same place?" She murmured, if only to break the silence that settled around the two of them. Her ears were starting to play tricks on her. Lucy would swear she could hear water splashing. "The cables I mean. There's ten tubes." The smaller one had split off from the larger one, however it was too dark and too quiet in the tank room; Lucy didn't want to be alone.

"Most likely. I can't imagine they'd all go to different ones."

It didn't take long for them to run into a wall. Lucy frowned in confusion, the tank room was too big on the outside for them to have reached the end of it already. She put her hand on the wall, it was too cold to be wood and too smooth to be stone. There was a ring of metal circling where the cable met the wall. She could tell by the sound it made when she tapped it. The rest of the wall didn't sound metallic.

"It feels like glass." There was another flash of brilliant blue and green. This time she couldn't say it was in her head; it was too vivid. She gasped, "did you see that?"

"Fascinating." Lucy didn't need light to know that the other Lucy was grinning broadly. "This must be a tank to hold the squid- or whatever it is. It must have some sort of bioluminescence!"

"You're using big words again."

"Its body can light up."

"Okay, does the squid you looked up do that?"

"No, the daydream squid doesn't…Let's get a closer look."

"How?"

"You can hear the water too right? That must mean that there's an opening at the top."

"This sounds like a bad idea."

"Just help me find a ladder or some stairs or something." She bumped into Lucy as she moved along the large glass wall.

Lucy bit her lip and looked back into the tank. The creatures, though bright looked murky. Likely because they weren't close to the glass, however to her they already looked bigger than she was; how large would they be up close?

Before she could say anything about it, the other Lucy found a ladder. "I'm going to take a look!" She called before the sound of her climbing reached Lucy's ears.

Lucy quickly made her way to where the other Lucy was. She could just leave now, neither of the other Lucys were stopping her and the door was at the brightest point in the room. However it didn't feel right. That other Lucy was climbing up to something that could be dangerous, and it didn't feel right for Lucy to leave before making sure that she was safe.

She found the ladder that the other one was still climbing. She could feel the vibrations through the metal. She gripped a rung tightly and looked up to the darkness that the other girl had vanished into. Unbidden, a faint memory of something Number 5 had told her echoed through her head. About family, about taking care of each other.

Lucy took a deep breath and called out, "wait for me!" She started to climb.


	10. Chapter 10

The funeral was a grand affair.

To be honest, Lucy was shocked that Lord Heartfilia even bothered to have one. However, Miss Layla had many friends so Lord Heartfilia likely didn't have much choice. Lucy wasn't sure what scared her more; the sheer number of grieving well-wishers that swarmed the manor, or seeing Lord Heartfilia act so sad. She almost believed that he really did love Miss Layla, that he really would miss her.

Lucy knew better though.

She peeked beyond the door, to the room where the majority of Miss Layla's friends were. There were so many people. She'd never been around so many strangers without Miss Layla there with her. She'd have to get used to it though. Lucy bit her lip and plucked at her pretty black dress. Part of her wanted to enter, to listen to the ones who knew Miss Layla, to get to know the Miss Layla that wasn't her caretaker.

The rest of her was too scared to move. What if she messed up? What if she said something Lord Heartfilia wouldn't approve of? Even hearing what little she could from her spot by the door made her want to burst into tears. She couldn't do that in public again; Lord Heartfilia wouldn't like it. He said it was unseemly, whatever that meant.

Lucy ducked away from the door when a green haired lady glanced at her. She couldn't do it. It was too much too soon without Miss Layla's soothing presence. She should be grateful, that she could be out mourning Miss Layla in public. Instead she just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry.

She wished one of the other Lucys were out here instead. At least then she could, perhaps, learn about how everything went without being out in public. The Lucys of the 56th generation weren't allowed out at all; Lord Heartfilia didn't trust any of them to keep his secrets. Lucy didn't mind about that, she didn't want to see any of them disposed of because they were too young to know what could and couldn't be said in public. They wouldn't remember Miss Layla or her funeral anyway.

As it was, the other two of her generation and the Lucys of the 56th generation were locked away in the room that the younger Lucys now slept in. A large part of her wished she was hidden away with them.

The little girl wandered the hallways, ducking behind corners and the odd curtain whenever she would run across someone. A few tried to talk to her, but she could only squeak and hide. She didn't know how long everyone would be there for. They were all to leave before Lord Heartfilia had Miss Layla "buried." However that was only because she knew he wouldn't want anyone to know that Miss Layla wouldn't actually be buried in the cemetery. Only truly irreplaceable people could be buried there. Instead everyone Miss Layla knew was invited to come and stare at her body as it rested in a nice box.

Lucy knew that it was so Miss Layla's friends could see her one last time and to say goodbye, but it was still kind of strange to her.

Before she realized it, Lucy had somehow wandered to the corridor near Lord Heartfilia's office. She couldn't help but tense as she neared it. It had been nearly two weeks since Miss Layla completed the mission, and three days since she died. Though she watched carefully, Lucy couldn't see any signs of Lord Heartfilia getting ready to dispose of them yet. Lucy didn't even know if there would be signs.

Still, it would have been less suspicious if he'd disposed of them when Miss Layla was dying, to play it off as an accident she and her "daughters" had gotten into. It would also make sense to get rid of them sometime after the funeral. Most of the mourners had already seen her wandering around in a pretty dress looking sad, she didn't think it would take much for Lord Heartfilia to spin a tale to explain her sudden and abrupt disappearance or death.

While she really hoped Miss Layla was correct when she'd said Lord Heartfilia wouldn't likely dispose of them all, she couldn't see a reason why he'd want to keep them around. Not with Lady Leanna's mission complete. Lucy would just have to remain vigilant and keep a watch to see what Lord Heartfilia would do. At least for few years or so. If he wasn't going to dispose of them by then, then he wasn't likely to.

If he decided to create the 57th generation, then she knew she'd only live to 21. Miss Layla had said that Lord Heartfilia only allowed three generations to be around at any given time.

She was shaken from her thoughts at the sound of a door opening. She hid behind a potted plant and watched Lord Heartfilia exit his office alongside a man with curly dark brown hair. The man was clutching a golden key.

"…Sure about this, Mr. Heartfilia? I…Layla…"

"I am well aware of my wife's wishes. However, unfortunately in her grief, Lucy has decided not to pursue her studies in magic." He didn't glance at her hiding spot, though Lucy knew that Lord Heartfilia knew she was there. It was useless to hide from him.

Lucy twitched from her hiding spot. That was news to her. Even though he didn't tell them directly, Lucy knew Lord Heartfilia would keep to his word. They wouldn't be doing any magic anymore. At least, not Celestial Summoning magic.

Although she hadn't been able to see Cancer recently, due to Miss Layla's health, she could still remember him running his fingers through her hair and telling her stories as his scissors snipped at her locks. The thought that she'd never see him again hurt. There were other, vaguer memories as well, of other Zodiac spirits, of her splashing in a fountain with a mermaid, of her running around with a white haired Uncle.

Then there was the history lessons with Grandpa Crux and being taught how to sing by Lyra. Though Crux was long winded and tended to fall asleep, and Lyra was only available two days a month, the thought of never seeing either of them again brought new tears of grief to Lucy's eyes.

Wasn't it bad enough that Miss Layla was gone?

The conversation had moved on while she was still reeling in shock, however, surprisingly the two men did not. They stayed in the middle of the hall.

"…Others?"

"No, no sir…I…The key of Capricornus is more than enough…" He licked his lips and clenched the key tighter. "If I may ask…what will happen to the others?"

"They will be kept here for the time being. As for the rest…" Lord Heartfilia paused, as if he needed to think about it. "Their owners have already reclaimed them." That sounded right, Lucy recalled that Miss Layla had had to borrow the rest of the Zodiac Keys.

"I see."

Lord Heartfilia gave a sharp nod. "If that is all, I must see to the other guests." With that he turned sharply and stalked down the hall, past where Lucy was hiding. Lord Heartfilia still didn't acknowledge her presence, but she knew he'd likely scold her for lurking around later.

The man with the golden key didn't move. Lucy didn't mind, she didn't feel like moving either. If he wasn't going to have them practice magic, then why would Lord Heartfilia keep Cancer's key? It seemed like it'd be pointless to do so if Cancer wasn't to be summoned and while Lord Heartfilia did many things, he never did anything that was pointless. She couldn't help but feel worried for Cancer and the other spirits.

A small sob took her attention back to the man. He was clutching the key to his chest as tears rolled down his face. Lucy had never seen anyone look so pained before. It hurt just watching him as he whimpered out Miss Layla's name. She had the sudden feeling that she shouldn't be witnessing this, that the man should have his moment of mourning alone. However, it wasn't like she could leave, not without interrupting the man's pain.

So instead she curled up behind the plant, stifling any sounds she wanted to make and letting her own tears run down her face. Her own crying fueled by the grief of Miss Layla's passing and the worry she had for her spirit friends. She didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that, both lost in their own little worlds of pain and sadness. The man must have recovered though because the next thing she was aware of was how close his voice was to her.

"Oh." She glanced up. He was standing over her and Lucy could now clearly see the scars he had on his cheeks going from the corner of his lips. He made an attempt to smile at her, but quickly gave up. "You… you're Layla's daughter, aren't you?"

She didn't feel like lying, not to him at least, so she only sniffed and looked away.

"You look a lot like her, you know, I'm sure you'll grow up to be as beautiful as she …as she was…" He inhaled sharply, it looked like he was going to start sobbing again. The scars on his face accentuated his expression; it looked like his entire face was frowning. He gathered himself and gently placed the hand not clutching Capricorn onto her head. "She was a wonderful woman." Lucy looked into his glassy tear filled eyes, however she stayed silent. The man sighed and he removed his hand before turning to walk away. "I only wish she didn't have to leave so soon…"

Lucy stared at his retreating back. Part of her wanted to hug him, to tell him that she missed Miss Layla too. However, the look she'd seen in his dark eyes kept her rooted in place. It was a bad look, one that was too much like what lingered in Lord Heartfilia's own eyes when he looked at her, or at the others. One she knew he wore whenever he looked at the portraits of his long dead wife and daughter.

It was a warm summer's day, all the same, she shivered before picking herself up and going in the opposite direction of the man. Lucy didn't know what to call that look only that it didn't mean anything good for anyone. She hoped she'd never run into him again.


	11. Chapter 11

She was never going to see them again. That was the only thought going through her head as she walked towards a large picture window overlooking the Heartfilia grounds. Lucy exhaled slowly as she stared out the window.

It'd been about six years since Miss Layla had completed their mission. Six years since she died. The 55th generation was now the oldest one still living. Even then, of the six that had woken up initially, only three were still alive. The 56th generation, though only 9 years old now, was doing much better than her generation had done. Now there was the 57th generation; just as young and as small as the 56th generation had been when Miss Layla had finished the mission.

Lucy looked out onto the lush greenery that covered the ground outside and bit her lip. Thinking about Miss Layla and the 57th generation made her heart ache. It had been Miss Layla's belief that with the mission completed Lord Heartfilia wouldn't keep making new generations. Lucy wondered if it was a good thing Miss Layla had not lived to see herself proven wrong.

She sighed and shook her head, banishing those thoughts away for a later date. She couldn't be distracted thinking about those things for now. She had a plan and she needed to stick to it. Her brown eyes trailed a nearly hidden path that disappeared into the trees not far from the manor.

Leaving the easy way, by the walkway stretching from the front door to the gates, would be a death sentence. She'd have to go the longer and more difficult way; through the woods and to the mountains that marked the end of the Heartfilia property. It would a long walk through the forest, and considering there was no path after a while and she couldn't be sure where she was going, it might take more than a day. After that, she figured three days or so to cross the mountain. Then she'd be free.

With one last steadying breath she turned and made her way to the wing that she shared with the other Lucys of her generation. She walked quickly but quietly, because while it was nearly noon she knew one of them would still be asleep and they were all light sleepers.

She closed the door to her room as quietly as possible and let out a small sigh of relief. She'd had to take care of the lessons today. She still had to, but thankfully there was an hour break for lunch. Although, after corralling 7 nine year olds and 9 two year olds all morning, an hour wasn't nearly long enough. Not for the first time Lucy wondered why they didn't shift out every break rather than every day.

However shifting daily did give her a large advantage. It meant she'd have two days at most before Lord Heartfilia would know for sure that she was gone. Then again, for what she was going to do before exiting the manor, it'd likely be far less than that. Leaving the manor grounds was going to be the easiest part of her whole plan.

Unconsciously her eyes darted to one of her many overstuffed bookshelves. Jammed between the books she'd borrowed from the Heartfilia library were guides and how to books. She'd bought almost all of those, saving money earned from deals and hard bargaining when buying Lord Heartfilia's supplies. She'd painstakingly saved up the money she'd stolen from him in that manner in order to buy, not just those books, but anything Lord Heartfilia wouldn't have given her. It hadn't been a lot at any given time, sometimes it was only fractions of Jewels from each trip. Thank goodness he never asked for receipts.

Some of the how to books were beguine, teaching the reader how to sew or cook. Others were a little more questionable but still fairly innocent like how to forge off the land or camp in the mountains. Then there were one or two that would raise alarms to anyone snooping about. The one about safe cracking and lock picking in particular, though that one was hidden among some very trashy romances with similar titles.

She'd honestly been surprised that Lord Heartfilia had had such steamy books like that sitting in the library.

She had read and memorized them all. She knew how to do everything those books taught her. At least in theory. What better way to test theoretical knowledge than at a time when it matters most?

Lucy nervously tugged a hand through her shoulder length blonde hair as she went to where she'd hidden her pack. It was small and there wasn't much in it, just some spare clothes and about a week's worth of dried food. The pack itself was covered in a mottled long coat that she'd painstakingly sewn together from scraps of green and gray fabrics for maximum camouflage.

The coat was poorly made and it probably wouldn't survive long past the mountains. Then again it didn't really need to. However it was a wonderful example of failing the practical application of theory. Something Lucy sincerely hoped wouldn't happen when she tried her hand at breaking into Lord Heartfilia's office and safe.

Not for the first time the weight of what she'd planned on doing hit her; she had to take a deep breath to steady herself and to keep her hands from shaking. She'd need to have a steady hand to make it through today. After all, it wasn't just herself she was risking with her plan.

Behind her someone snorted. With a yelp she jumped and quickly turned to the intruder only to be faced with herself. Large tired brown eyes glared at her as the other blonde crossed her arms over her ample bosom.

"Could you keep it down? I swear, I could hear you fretting from my bed."

Lucy let out a shaky breath as she tried to calm her racing heart. "You scared me."

The other Lucy snorted and sneered, "Really? Who'd you think I was; the cleaning lady?"

Lucy frowned. "Mrs. Spetto is a nice lady." Mrs. Spetto and her group of cleaners came once a week to the Heartfilia manor to clean, though they never interacted with anyone other than Lord Heartfilia and possibly the cooks. Besides them or the other Lucy's the only other option would have been Lord Heartfilia. "Besides, they don't clean today." That was one of the reasons she'd chosen today; there was no reason to get the cleaning staff accused of thievery, even if that would make it a bit easier on herself.

"Yeah, yeah," she waved a lazy hand as she made her way towards the bed. "I'm getting your room right? You have a better view of the sky than I do."

"We could have switched before," Lucy grumbled. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? The offer's still open for you and Lucy."

She sprawled out on Lucy's bed. "Why should I leave? This is what we were made to do. The reason we exist at all is to support Lord Heartfilia's mission."

"But the mission is over-"

"No, Lady Leanna's mission is over. Lord Heartfilia's mission has just started."

"We don't even know what the mission is."

"Do we need to?"

Lucy sighed. This wasn't the first time they'd talked about this; by now they were just rehashing everything they'd talked about before. "I'd like to."

"Seems like that's your problem then."

"Still I…I just can't believe you're okay with everything."

"Why wouldn't I be? Lord Heartfilia's given us everything we could want."

"He's going to kill us when we turn 21!"

"That's not true and you know it. He'd only put us to sleep and then we'd die later when our magic gives out. Besides isn't that how life is?" She propped herself up to give Lucy an incredulous look. "When we becomes obsolete we are disposed of to make way for the next generation. That's how it works. That's how it always works."

"Not with Miss Layla, she should have been killed when our generation was created. And she was in her thirties when she died, so don't say we aren't supposed to live for longer than our twenties."

She sighed and her eyes softened at the mention of their former caretaker. "You and I both know that was different. If they hadn't lost the 54th or even the 53rd generation then we would have been raised by…I don't know a Laura or some other L name." She sat up more fully, her brows furrowed in thought. "Maybe there's a reason he gets rid of us when we reach that age…"

"What?" She blinked in confusion before catching onto the other's half formed thought. "Are you saying Miss Layla corrupted me or something?" Lucy glared at the other Lucy, her hands rested on her hips. This was a new wrinkle in their old argument and Lucy wasn't sure if she liked it.

The Lucy on the bed quickly waved her hands to calm the other girl down. "No! Well, maybe? I was talking to the other Lucy-"

"Of course you were," Lucy groaned.

"Shut up, she mentioned some good points. Like that Miss Layla did leave the house a lot more than we do, even put together. She knew a lot more people outside the manor and even taught one or two of them…And well, you were also the one she spent the most time with…So, just…What if she was…I don't know…"

"So? She had to travel a lot to complete Lady Leanna's mission. Even disregarding that, it just means she knew more about the world outside the manor, outside Lord Heartfilia and his mission."

The one on the bed rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, it isn't like we've been hiding in the manor the whole time. Lucy and I?" she gestured to outside the room, indicating the third Lucy. "We know the world outside is much bigger than what we have. I've even read all those silly adventure stories you keep hording from the library. But if elsewhere is so great, why are you the only one who wants to leave?"

Lucy frowned. She wasn't entirely sure she had an answer for the other one. "I…Don't know…It just…It feels like…I…" She took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts. "Whenever I'm out, doing the shopping or buying a book or something, coming back feels like…I don't know, like I can't breathe. Like this place, as big as it is, is suffocating. And well you read my books right? Did you read the one about the girl going over the rainbow?"

"Yes," she responded in the tone of someone who wasn't sure how the topic was relevant, but was willing to humor the other Lucy regardless.

"Her world was gray and drab until she went over it and suddenly her life was filled with color." She gave her mirror image a small, warm smile. "I can't help but feel that leaving will be my rainbow and give me a world of new colors."

The Lucy on the bed gave her an even look. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she blandly stated before sighing. "However, if you're sure then I guess I won't stop you. Not that I was going to. We've kept quiet about it for this long."

"And thank you so much for that."

The other Lucy waved her off. "Yeah, whatever, so long as Lord Heartfilia doesn't find out we knew about this… Good luck, I guess…"

Her smile widened. "Thanks again. If you or Lucy change your mind, I'll be at the graveyard at 1 and I'll wait for about ten minutes."

The other one huffed. "Doubt we will…on that note, what time is it now?"

"Eh? It's-" She cut herself off with an inelegant squawk. Her lunch break was nearly done. Lucy still needed to actually have lunch. She quickly dashed out the room and was followed by the laughter of the other Lucy. As she raced through the large empty halls, she couldn't help but think that she'd really miss the other Lucys.

Despite her need to rush about, she couldn't help but slow down and allow a frown to cross her face.

Contrary to what she'd implied to the other Lucys, Lucy wasn't leaving because of their impending death date. The Lucy now in her room had been right about that; when they were obsolete they were replaced. That's how the world worked when you were a part of Lord Heartfilia's plans. Lord Heartfilia had decreed that they'd be obsolete by the time the 58th generation would be born, therefore they'd be disposed of shortly before the birth of that generation.

Lucy was okay with that. She was replaceable and interchangeable with the others, she'd known that for as long as she could remember. That ideology was already in practice; as far as the younger two generations were concerned there was only one Miss Lucy. The 56th generation were even past the point where they'd had to stop referring to themselves by their number and start using their name. Granted this did cause some confusion, especially since they were also named Lucy due to an error. The 57th would be easier, their name was Leah. Not that Lucy would be around at that point, one way or another.

She had been mostly honest with her other reason for leaving. Because, yes, the manor did feel suffocating and her legs itched with the desire to get out and see the world. However she couldn't actually say that it was to the point where she felt that she had to get out.

The real reason she felt she absolutely had to get out was something she was highly reluctant to share. It was something she felt the other Lucys wouldn't appreciate or understand.

Cancer and several other Celestial Spirits were still locked up in Lord Heartfilia's safe. She needed to save them.


	12. Chapter 12

Dinner was a solitary affair. They were not allowed to eat with the other generations and the three of them found it uncomfortably stifling to eat together. As such the most contact they had at meal time was when they obtained their identical meals at the pickup area. Even if it was the last meal Lucy would be having with the others, neither she nor the other two did anything different. To act out of the ordinary would be disastrous at this point in time. Even if she did want one last goodbye.

At her desk, Lucy sighed idly pushing some meat around the plate. She hadn't been able to talk about leaving to the younger generation. At least not the ones she wanted to talk to. Lucy still remembered what Miss Layla had said about leaving the manor, about taking the others with her. Also, she figured that if she was going to defy Lord Heartfilia and leave the manor, she should at least extend the option to the younger ones as well. However, the Leahs were too young and it would have been impossible to talk to them without Lord Heartfilia knowing about it.

As for the younger generation of Lucys; Number 9 couldn't keep anything a secret, the new Number 7 practically worshiped Lord Heartfilia, Number 6, she knew, would rather be experimented on than leave the building, Number 5 didn't like to make hard choices and Number 2, while she agreed to keep it a secret, had the same thoughts as the other two Lucys of Lucy's generation.

The only ones she thought would want to join her would have been Number 1 and Number 10, however Lucy hadn't been able to get them alone in a place that she could talk with them. They'd likely be alright for several more years regardless. At least, that's what Lucy told herself. It would have been extremely difficult for her to take them with her anyway, considering that their room had no windows. More than that, she doubted she'd have enough food for herself, much less for a second person.

It was an excuse, she knew that. They could have snuck out, like what she and the others had done years ago. She could have waited longer and gathered more food. She could have put off leaving, though right now was the perfect time to with her finally feeling like she was ready and Lord Heartfilia away on a rare business trip.

With a huff she shook those thoughts from her head and took a bite out of her meal. It was a filet mignon, medium rare with just the right amount of sauces and spices to make it practically melt on her tongue. She knew she should savor it; whether she succeeded or not, there was little chance of her eating anything like it in the near future. Or at all. However, the stress and anxiety of what she was about to do made her loose her desire to eat. She still forced herself to, as she'd need the energy, however the perfectly cut and prepared steak may as well have tasted like dirt.

Before she knew it, her dinner was finished. She couldn't remember eating most of it. Numbly, she returned the plate to where she'd gotten it from. Two other identical plates were already there. She returned to her room without seeing anyone.

There wasn't anything else to do but to putter around and wait. It was still early and while Lord Heartfilia wasn't in the manor at the moment, Lucy didn't know how far away he was. She didn't doubt that he was still monitoring the building, or that he would return at the first sign that something wasn't right. She didn't know if Lord Heartfilia slept or not, but if he did then doing this at night would give her the best chance of success.

She obsessively checked her bag and a tiny cheap wristwatch. Time was crawling far too much for her nerves to handle it and it wasn't even dark out yet. She was too nervous to take a nap and too afraid she'd just sleep the night away. It was the same with reading, though she did look longingly at her books from time to time. She couldn't take any with her, there wasn't room in her bag; it was small and cheap and already bulging with the supplies she knew she'd need. She couldn't afford to carry it on her person either. She needed her hands free and there was nothing else she had that could hold a book.

It wasn't like she'd have the luxury of free time anyway. Not now, not in the near future, maybe not even in the far future.

With a sigh she ran her fingers along their spines. Was it strange that she was going to miss her books as much as she'd miss the other Lucys? They'd probably think so.

After waiting for far too long, but before she was ready, night fell and soon she'd be breaking into Lord Heartfilia's office and safe. She took a deep breath before slipping on her bag and her cloak, pulling the hood up to obscure her hair. She was rapidly approaching the point of no return and all she could feel was a unique mix of dread and excitement.

Lucy took another deep, steadying breath before opening the window and gently lowering herself out onto the ledge.

It was, perhaps, not the smartest or sanest route to get to the office. However, Lucy liked to think it was the least monitored way. She was starting to regret thinking like that. Clinging to the side of a building was much harder than her books had implied. The night was cold, her fingers were already starting to ache and all she could do was inch her way along the narrow decorative ledges. There were thankfully two of them; one that her fingers where grabbing onto that was almost the same level as her window and the other, the one that marked the tops of the windows on the floor below, was just high enough for her toes to stand on. This did mean that her face and chest scraped uncomfortably against the wall, however.

Lucy could only thank her lucky stars that Lord Heartfilia's office was on the same level as her room, she didn't even want to think about what would happen if she'd needed to go up or down a floor.

After an eternity she reached the area near Lord Heartfilia's office. She knew this because his office window faced the cemetery, so that he could see the two large angel statues that marked the graves of his wife and child. By then she was panting, her fingers were numb and her calves ached. She didn't even know how she was going to pull herself up and open his office window but she would. She had to.

Lucy reached up and groped blindly for the window leading to his office. She scooted along, going left and right until she found the seam where they opened. She switched hands, giving her other one a bit of a break, and pulled out a thin bit of wire she'd gotten from a cheap bracelet. Biting her lip, she attempted to slide it in the seam and unlock the window, a feat that would likely be difficult to do even if she could see what she was doing. Lucy really hoped it'd work though, if it didn't she'd likely fall and break her neck. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on for.

She sucked in a breath when she felt the wire move. Either it was able to enter or it'd folded in on itself. Lucy really hoped it was the former. After some wiggling she was able to feel some resistance on the wire. She had to switch hands again, once or twice, each time she feared the wire would fall. It didn't thankfully. Eventually, after much wiggling, jiggling and cursing, she heard a small sharp click and the window swung open. Lucy let out a shaky breath in relief.

Now she just had to get inside.

Lucy dropped the wire inside; she'd pick it up later, it could still be useful. Reaching as far as she could, her fingers just barely hooked over the sill. Her other hand soon joined the first one and she jumped up as high as she could.

It wasn't very high, though it did allow her hands to now be fully gripping at the windowsill. Lucy was left dangling and huffing as she tried to will her arms to pull the rest of her up. They ached horribly, especially her wrists from the odd angle they were stuck at. However, she wasn't in a position to adjust her hold.

She nearly fell a few times but thankfully the resulting surge of adrenaline gave her the energy needed to hang on for just a little longer. Eventually she managed to scramble enough so that her upper body was half in the office. After that, it was much easier to pull the rest of herself inside. She collapsed on the floor under the window, panting and wheezing as she tried to shake the pain out of her hands and arms. Lucy couldn't stop now, as much as she wanted to, she was only part way through her plan.

She swallowed and forced herself to her feet, pocketing the wire as she got up. She closed and locked the windows. There was no point in going out that way, Lord Heartfilia would know for sure that there was an intruder, she might as well not risk falling and breaking something. She didn't think her arms could stand doing that again regardless.

The safe was kept behind some decorative curtains. She knew this because that's where Lord Heartfilia kept his money as well. Or at least, the money he gave to her and the others whenever they were to run errands for him. She did her best to calm her racing heart, to get her pulse to stop pounding in her ears. Lucy would need to listen carefully for this part.

She brushed the heavy velvety curtains away and knelt before the metal box. She could practically feel the keys inside reaching and calling out to her. First right, then left, then right again; she listened carefully for the louder clicks. It took a few tries, but soon she was prying the door open and gazing at the treasures inside.

On small hooks around the walls of the safe, there were four keys. Two silver, two gold. Lyra, Crux, Cancer and, to her surprise, Aquarius. Even if she was shocked at the fourth key, Lucy still grabbed them all without hesitation. Despite not having been touched in a long time, they felt warm in her hand. She gently placed them at the top of her pack, closing it securely.

She paused at the stacks of money before grabbing as much as she could stuff into her pockets. It was only about a million Jewel, maybe a million and a half. With any luck, it would last her a while.

That done, she closed the safe, shouldered her bag and left the office. If she wasn't on a time limit before, she certainly was now. Lucy was fairly confident that Lord Heartfilia would be the type to hide an alarm Lacrima somewhere inside the safe. Even if he was asleep and not monitoring the office, he'd be awakened and alerted to the fact that someone else opened it.

She walked as quickly as she dared through the halls, down the stairs and out the back door. She didn't run, she couldn't afford to use more energy than she needed to. The moon was full, so it was easy to see where she was going, even when she entered the forest behind the house.

As she passed the tank room she checked her watch. It was almost one. Perfect. If either of the other Lucys wanted to join her, she'd be able to meet them at the time she said they should. Lucy might not have enough supplies, but she was positive they'd be able to make due. She'd also be able to rest a bit. After all that she'd done, her body was shaking and begging for a break. Lucy smiled and forced herself to keep her current pace as she made her way to the graveyard.


	13. Chapter 13

Contrary to what it was called, the graveyard was neither a yard nor were there graves in it. Like the tank room, it was a large shed built and hidden in the forest behind the Heartfilia manor. Unlike the tank room it was smaller, its door was made of metal and there was absolutely no mystery as to what was inside.

It was where Lucy and the others would go to after they were disposed of.

Lucy sat against a nearby tree, gently flexing and massaging her hands. She wanted to close her eyes and take a nap, but she couldn't take that risk. Even if the graveyard was farther away from the manor than the tank room, it was still too close for her to relax.

Nervously she checked her watch again. It was nearly time for her to go. She should leave as soon as possible; she needed to increase the distance between her and the manor as much as she could before collapsing in exhaustion. Yet she was terrified that as soon as she'd left another Lucy would approach and be left behind.

So Lucy kept waiting. She waited until ten minutes past the time she said she'd leave. No one else came.

With a sigh she pushed herself to her feet and went to the door of the graveyard. She gently placed her forehead against the cold metal door and silently said goodbye to Miss Layla and the long gone Lucys of her generation. She sighed again before pulling away and starting her trek towards the mountain that marked the edge of the Heartfilia property. Lucy had a long ways to go before she could rest again.

She wouldn't say that her journey was unpleasant. However she could say for sure that it wasn't comfortable either. The night was cold and her poorly made cloak did little to keep her warm, though with any luck it would do its job and make her harder to spot.

The thick trees obscured the mountain and made it difficult to tell whether or not she was going in the right direction. The little hard to find path that had led to the graveyard had long since faded away to nothing. All Lucy had now was her own sense of direction and the regret that she didn't think to get a compass of some sort.

Once or twice she climbed a tree to get a look at where she was. Her hands and arms objected loudly but she was pleased to see that the mountain kept getting closer. By the time dawn began to color the sky, she figured she was half way there.

However, even though her eyes burned, her hands were shaky and her arms felt like they were going to fall off, she couldn't rest just yet. She had to keep going. Lucy could rest when she got to the base of the mountain.

By the time the trees started to thin out and the ground began to get steep, her legs had joined her arms in being sore and Lucy was fairly confident she had some blisters. She'd also experienced what it was like to give back to nature. It wasn't something she was looking forward to doing again, even though she knew she'd have to.

She nearly cried with relief as the forest floor was replaced with rocks. The sky had long since gone dark again, her stomach felt like it was eating itself and she was so tired her eyes kept crossing. However, she had finally made it to the foot of the mountain, she could take a break, eat something and maybe even sleep for a bit.

Lucy collapsed against one of the few trees left, gratefully sliding down to the ground and resting her poor weary legs. Slipping her bag from her pack she opened it, ready to dig out her carefully gathered food before pausing at the sight of the four keys that still rested at the top. She smiled softly at them before gently moving them aside. She'd summon them soon, but not now. It'd been a long time since she'd used any gate key and she didn't know how much magic it'd take out of her to summon Crux or Lyra, much less either of the golden Zodiac keys. Right now Lucy really couldn't afford to be both physically and magically exhausted.

She pulled out a pre-portioned bit of food. All her food was portioned so that it should keep her going until she got to the nearest town on the other side of the mountain. In theory.

Lucy looked down at the bit of dried fruit and hand full of jerky that was her dinner. Her stomach growled and demanded at least twice that. With a sigh she ate it all and had to stop herself from pulling out more food. That was all she could eat for now, she'd have to be patient till the next day for more.

She gently stroked the keys as she placed them back into her bag, along with the money she'd taken. Lucy promised to summon them soon as she closed and sealed the bag. With that she held her bag against her chest, wrapped her cloak around it and herself and went to sleep. Hopefully not for very long.

It was light when she next woke up. Remarkably bright, especially without the tree's dense canopy to break up the sun's rays. Her body was stiff and sore, something she figured she'd have to get used to. She ate a little more food and drank some water before starting to walk up the base of the mountain.

Lucy didn't know exactly where the Heartfilia property ended, just that it was at the base of the mountain. However, even if she did cross the boundary line, she'd still be too close to the manor for comfort. Honestly, in her mind, the whole of Fiore was too close to the Heartfilia manor but Lucy figured it was better than nothing. Leaving Fiore itself was something she didn't know how to do at the moment.

She didn't climb much higher than the tree line. Lucy didn't have the knowledge, skill or equipment to actually go over the top; the best she could do was circle around the base. It was also easier to hide when there were trees nearby.

The next few days passed as a blur. She walked as much as she could and rested when she couldn't keep going. Lucy liked to think she was covering a good amount of distance, but it was impossible to tell when all she had were trees and rocks around her. She didn't know when she'd be on the other side of the mountain. On occasion she would climb higher, as high as she could really, and look around. However, all that she could see below her was forest.

Night time was the worst for her. They were cold and getting colder the further into October it got. Despite that she didn't dare risk having a fire. The only time she could actually sleep was when she was too tired to do anything else. She couldn't navigate by the stars; she'd tried but she kept getting them confused. It would have been easier if the other Lucy had been there with her; she knew everything there was to know about stars.

Granted, if Lucy had brought anyone else along, they would have run out of food by now. As it was, she was burning through her rations at an alarming rate.

A few times she had been tempted to summon Crux and see if he could help her. However, from what she could recall, while he was unmatched in knowledge about Celestial Spirits and everything having to do with them, his knowledge of anything else was, unfortunately, remarkably sub-par. Lucy couldn't remember whether the actual stars in the sky was included in his knowledge or not. Stars were a huge grey area in that they were intimately connected to the Celestial realm but at the same time they were completely independent. It was just a messy and confusing subject that Lucy was reluctant to touch on a good day; she hadn't had a good day in a long time.

When she'd been circling the mountain for four days, she decided that it was probably enough and started back into the woods. Lucy honestly hoped she wasn't going back onto the Heartfilia property. However it wasn't something she'd know for sure until she either wandered back to the manor or found a town.

She hoped she'd find other people soon, her food supplies were running frightfully low. The books she'd read on forging were useless if she couldn't find anything. Lucy couldn't take time out of moving to search more thoroughly either. Water was becoming an issue as well; she hadn't found any streams. Though like with forging, she hadn't really tried looking.

Lucy would have to start very soon though. She was on her last canteen and it was feeling discouragingly light. Not that she'd actually packed a lot of water to begin with, it was heavy, the canteens were expensive and took up most of the room in her bag. It had also been awkward to sneak water from the bathroom to her room.

When she collapsed for the night she decided to skip her meager meal. It probably wasn't the best idea, but she needed to make her food last longer. So with an emptier than usual stomach she wrapped her cloak around herself and settled in for the night.

The camouflaged cloak she'd made hadn't faired too well. While she hadn't been particularly rough with it, the threads holding it together had broken in several places. It was full of holes and there was a good chunk missing off the bottom. It probably wouldn't last a few more days.

A darker thought reminded her that she wouldn't either, between the increasing chill, lack of food and lack of water.

It was two more days before her luck started to turn around. She found water. More than that, she found running water. Lucy smiled to herself, the small brook normally wouldn't be something she'd have appreciated before. However, now, after hiking through the wilderness for about a week it was a god send.

Lucy quickly, for the first time, set up a fire. She wanted to clean herself, but if she couldn't get a fire going then it'd be too dangerous. More than that, before now she hadn't had the courage to strip herself in such an open environment. Her clothes were the same as they were when she started out, though they were now rank and likely only useful for kindling. Lighting the actual fire was harder than she thought it'd be, but somehow she managed.

With the fire burning merrily, she washed herself as best she could in the little stream though she had no soap. Her hair was a complete write off until she summoned Cancer, so she didn't even bother trying to wash it.

After she was as clean as she was going to get, wearing wrinkled but fresh clothes and warm for the first time in days, she finally turned her attention to the keys. The four of them were still warm in her hand and they sparkled in the dimming sun and in the light from the fire. The choice of who to summon first was made for her when the Key to the Water Bearer began glowing vibrantly and warmed to the point of pain.

Lucy gently placed the other three keys back into her bag. On an impulse she didn't really understand she went back to the small brook. She held the key aloft in her hand and spoke.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!" Following the instinct that led her to the water, she plunged the key into the cold stream and turned it. She could feel her magic pouring out of her as she completed the spell.

With a sound like a door bell a brilliant magic circle opened and the spirit entered the world. Lucy found herself staring in awe.

She was the most gorgeous person Lucy had ever seen. From her elegant curves to her clear skin, the spirit was the essence of perfection. Her shimmering blue hair was matched only by her equally blue scales. If actual mermaids weren't real, if this spirit was the only thing the legends were based on, Lucy couldn't help but think that those stories of the watery beauties weren't done justice.

The Zodiac propped her urn on her hip, her other hand matched it on her other side, tapping at her scales in irritation. Her face was twisted in a scowl, but Lucy still couldn't help but think that she was beautiful in the way a storm was.

"Brat," when she spoke, her voice was as smooth as water even if it was as equally irate as her expression. "It's about time you summoned me!"

Lucy could only smile sheepishly, "sorry."


	14. Chapter 14

Hargeon was a port town known for its fishing as well as its historical buildings. While neither of those things really appealed to her, Lucy could barely contain her excitement. It would be the first time she'd ever seen the ocean in person. One of the first things she learned after leaving the Heartfilia manor was that seeing and experiencing things in person was way different than reading about them. Like camping, unfortunately.

Almost as soon as she left the train the ocean breeze swept past her. Lucy would easily admit that the scent of salt water, seaweed and dead fish, while strangely sweet smelling in a way, was just shy of being disgusting. And people liked living by the ocean?

She shook the thought from her head as she stretched. Trains, while significantly quicker than walking, weren't the most comfortable method of transportation. Especially when sitting in the cheapest and most crowded cars. Not that Lucy had much choice, the money that seemed like so much when she'd left the Heartfilia manor was nearly gone.

Her plan was to use her remaining money to get a passage to another country. Like another Ishgardian country such as Minstrel or a passage to somewhere on the continent of Alakitasia if she could afford it. Somewhere Lord Heartfilia wouldn't be able to find her or the Celestial Keys she had.

However now that she was here, at Hargeon, Lucy found herself hesitating.

Doubts she'd thought she'd gotten rid of were swirling around inside her head. She didn't know any other languages; how will she communicate? She didn't have much money and likely wouldn't have any by the time she made it to another country; how will she survive? Would it even be possible to find a job?

Lucy shook those thoughts from her head and ran a hand through her brown hair. So long as she was able to fulfill the promise she'd made to her Spirits, she'd go through any hardship. Even if it meant being hungry, lost and out on the streets.

One step at a time. She told herself. Take everything one step at a time. It was how she escaped in the first place and that method hadn't failed her yet.

First step, she wanted to see the ocean.

It wasn't just the desire to see something new. The last time she'd been near a large body of water, a lake, the gentle lapping of water had made her skin crawl. It reminded her too much of That Night, and she'd been certain that if she stayed near she'd start to have flashbacks. Lucy needed to know if the ocean would be the same. If it was, travel by water would be much more uncomfortable and she'd need to find a way to keep from being affected on the water.

On that note she should find out if Hargeon had a fish market. Or else she should just avoid anywhere that smelled too fishy. However if she did stumble upon a fish market, it'd be fine, so long as a certain creature wasn't for sale. All the same there was no need to risk having a panic attack in the middle of town. It'd draw too much attention to herself.

Lucy followed her ears towards the rushing and crashing caused by the waves. Whatever else she'd expected, she hadn't thought it'd be so loud. It didn't take very long for her to catch a glimpse of the water. She couldn't help but gape at the sight.

She'd read enough books that the sight wasn't a surprise to her. She'd expected it to be blue, to sparkle, Lucy had even anticipated its vastness. However like with all the things she'd read about and experienced, seeing it was an experience.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, at the end of an alleyway overlooking the port, taking in the sight, smells and sounds of the ocean. A particularly loud cry from a gull snapped her out of it though. She took one last glance before going back to the main street.

It wasn't like a lake. The waters weren't calm enough to be still and the waves weren't gentle. Even if there were unseen horrors lurking beneath the surface; it wasn't enough to cause her to panic.

Lucy smiled to herself, feeling strangely satisfied. She might be freaked out by lakes, but the bigger and more unpredictable ocean was a piece of cake for her. She could do this.

With that thought in mind, she trotted down the streets, window shopping and not thinking about how leaving Fiore made her stomach twist. It was something she'd deal with later. It was likely her last day in her home country, she should enjoy it.

Looking through the glass at a particularly nice dress, Lucy couldn't help but notice her reflection. Her roots were showing. She'd need to have Cancer dye her hair again. He wouldn't be happy; he kept saying that brown obscured her eyes and made her look dull. He refused to color her hair black though and Lucy was worried that having any other hair color would stand out too much. Even blonde.

Sometimes she wondered if Cancer had forgotten that she wanted to avoid attention. Everyone and their grandma were related to someone with brown hair, one more person wondering around with it wouldn't draw anyone's eye. Odd colors such as pink or blue usually meant the person was a mage. While Lucy wouldn't deny that she was a mage as well, she didn't want to advertise it.

Perhaps because she was thinking of hair colors and mages, she caught sight of a small shop. It was practically sandwiched between two other buildings. It wasn't remarkable with only two things to make it stand out; its corners were blocked out in stone and its sign that proudly exclaimed itself as Magic Store 3ZX3.

The sign had be small and subtle enough that she nearly overlooked it. By all rights she should ignore it; she'd gotten ripped off enough at stores like that before. However, she was curious and there was always the possibility of gaining more Keys. So with a halfhearted sigh she entered the building.


	15. Chapter 15

Regrettably, but not surprisingly the magic store failed to impress. The shelves were stuffed with cheap Magic Council approved trinkets and nearly all the books were either poorly written teach-yourself-magic texts or gossip magazines. Lucy had just made a mental note to grab a Sorcerer Weekly when the store keeper welcomed her.

He was an elderly man with stiff white hair, his nose was sort of pig shaped and he had a silly pointed hat with a poof ball at the end.

"Good day," she chirped in response.

"Have you seen anything you like?"

"Well, there seems to be a lot of beginner stuff here…" She took another glance around, "is there another shop for more advanced mages or something?"

"No, I'm afraid Hargeon only has this one shop."

"Eeeh? There's only one magic store in this town?" Lucy had been sure that with a town the size of Hargeon there would have been more than one place for selling magical items. Some smaller towns that she'd been to had had more than one shop.

"Well…Yes… This town is more prosperous in fishing than magic to begin with. More than that, less than 10% of the townspeople can use magic. So this store mostly caters to beginning magic users, people with magic who don't want to go into the fishing trade. But there are some things for travelers, as you can see!" He gestured to some of the swords displayed on a wall. "Those there are great for fending off monsters!"

Lucy didn't know much about swords, but they looked sharp and impressive; in the hands of someone who could use them they'd probably be quite formidable. The rest of the items in the store, however, were simply trinkets and a serious mage wouldn't look twice at them.

She sighed. "That's not really the sort of thing I'm looking for…"

"Oh well, I suppose I can understand that. Please keep looking around, we have plenty of other items too. For instance," he dug around behind the counter before pulling up a spell book. "This 'Colors' magic is probably the most popular one amongst girls." Lucy was familiar with the spell book, she'd gotten one so that she could give the illusion that she had more than three outfits. She regretted wasting that money.

However the store keeper kept saying his sales pitch, even when her attention wandered to more trinkets around the shop. "Depending on your daily mood, you can change the color of your outfit!" With a flourish his shirt suddenly became purple.

"I already have it." Lucy assured him as she picked up the most recent copy of Sorcerer Weekly. She half hoped the man wasn't too attached to that shirt.

Colors was the sort of spell that had to be used daily on the same clothes. That sort of thing might not be so bad, but it was horrendously limited. Its color pallet only had strong simple colors; nine colors to be specific. The colors couldn't be mixed or faded, it was only those nine colors. It couldn't do patterns either, so any pattern that was previously there was magically dyed over to the color of the casters choice, leaving them with plain solid color clothing. Lastly the color faded to a murky dull brown color when the spell wore off. The clothes couldn't be fixed or returned to their original color. The only thing that could be done with it would be to keep casting the spell. More than that, after too many castings the unfortunate piece of clothing would start to disintegrate from the abuse.

"I'm looking for Keys," she informed him as she wandered over to a display case. A hint of silver had caught her eye. "Celestial Gate Keys."

"Gates huh? That's something uncommon." She could see he hadn't had much demand for them; there were only three keys in the case.

One of the shiny silver keys was a bird; it was either Cygnus or Grus. She couldn't tell which. Lucy had heard that Cygnus's swans could be difficult to work with and that most cranes summoned by the Grus Key were unpleasant to be around. While having the Gate of Cygnus to work with might be nice, it probably wasn't worth the risk of it being a Gate of Grus instead.

Another one had a gleaming anchor symbol on it. The Key to the Gate of Carina; the keel of the legendary ship Argo. While it had potential, the key was utterly useless without the Key's to the Gates of both Puppis and Vela; the poop deck and the sail respectively. The Keys of Argo weren't rare, but they were fairly uncommon. Obtaining all three was nearly unheard of. Even then being able to use the Argo was a trial in itself. The three Keys together were said to be the same as opening a Golden Key, and all of them would have to be maintained for the ship to stay in Earthland. Depending on the journey, it meant the mage would have to keep the Gates open for days or even weeks. Lucy couldn't imagine keeping a Golden Gate open for even half an hour, much less a day.

A serious collector would jump at the chance to buy either one of those Keys, especially Carina. However, Lucy wasn't all that interest in collecting Keys and it was the duller, less noticeable, one between the other two Keys that held her attention and made her gasp in affection.

It didn't shine like the other two. The silver was dull and worn looking. That Key hadn't been used in a long time. The round cartoonish, almost snowman like creature on the bow told her everything she needed to know about the Key.

"Canis Minor!" While there wasn't a hint of tarnish on the dulled silver yet, it wouldn't be long before even the most diligent of polishing wouldn't be enough to keep it clean looking. She had to buy it. To be honest, if she had more money, she would have seriously considered getting the other two as well, however, the more unwanted Key was her priority.

"Ah, that one? It's a really weak summon, however it's a good companion for children and decent practice for beginners."

"How much is it?"

"20,000 Jewels."

That was actually a decent price, but Lucy was fairly sure she could get it for cheaper and every penny counted. The main question was what strategy she should use to bring the price down. Flirting worked best on younger men, though there were a select few older men that fell for it as well. Haggling, however was much more useful on women and the majority of older male shopkeepers. Unfortunately, starting out with one made it difficult to switch to the other. Haggle with someone she should flirt with and it'd come across as far too desperate for it to work; flirt with someone she should've haggled and they wouldn't take her seriously.

With a deep breath, she made her choice. "I wonder how much it is."

"I said 20,000 Jewels."

Lucy leaned forward, her arms came under her chest, pushing her breasts up, emphasizing them and causing her zipper to pull down from the pressure it found itself under. The man probably had a wonderful view of them now. He blushed, his eyes were drawn to her chest and he swallowed thickly.

"I wonder how much it really is," Lucy cooed, inwardly berating herself for not getting his name earlier. "Dandy mister." She drew out the syllables. Hopefully it'd be enough.

In the end, it was difficult to say if she succeeded or not. She'd only gotten a 1,000 Jewel discount. However money was money and she'd take what she could get. That didn't mean that it didn't hurt a bit; her sex appeal was only worth 1,000 Jewels. To that guy at least. She was wearing her most attractive top too; the dark cross emphasized her breast size while making her waist seem slim.

"I really should have bargained." She huffed to herself. Lucy could practically hear Cancer grumbling about how if she had stayed blonde, it would have been better. Flirting did usually work better with her natural hair color.

However, Lucy really couldn't argue with the results. She had a new Key. They'd have to be summoned soon to set up a contract, but now wasn't the time. All the same, she could be content for now with the knowledge that the Canis Minor had a master now, even if it wasn't official yet.

She held it up, looking at the Key closely. Already it seemed to be a bit brighter than it had been in the store. Most would dismiss that as a trick of the light. Lucy knew better.

She smiled at it. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you, for as long as I can." She clipped it onto her key ring with the rest of her Keys. "Even after…I'll find someone to love you. I promise."


	16. Chapter 16

The sounds of screaming caught her attention. Thankfully it wasn't panicked or pained. Though it did hurt somewhat to listen to. The noise drew her attention to a group of girls gathering. Most were around her age, some were a bit younger.

"Wonder what's going on…" Lucy mumbled. She couldn't see what they were gathered around.

Someone must have heard her, because a girl passing by answered. "A famous mage is in town! It's lord Salamander!" She practically had hearts in her eyes, and she wasn't the only one. Several women rushing past her were screaming enthusiastically and crying out for joy at the chance to see Salamander.

"Salamander?" Lucy gasped, "That famous mage who controls fire magic that can't be bought in stores? He's in town?" She couldn't help but clap her hands in excitement. She'd never before had the chance to see such a famous mage! Already dozens of questions flooded her mind, not that she'd have the chance to ask all of them. Well, she probably could, he just wouldn't be able to answer them.

She quickly found the crowd of girls. "Ohh, he's popular…" The chances of him even noticing her just dropped to rock bottom. Considering there was only one magic store in Hargeon, she hadn't thought a traveling mage could be so popular. "I wonder if he looks cool…" It would explain why it seemed that half the town's young women flocked to him. Considering the crowd, she'd be lucky to catch a glimpse of him.

Still, she had to try; there was one thing she absolutely needed to ask him about. She couldn't back down on this; her Spirits were counting on her.

Making it to the front of the crowd took more pushing and shoving than Lucy would care to admit. Eventually however she finally broke through, the question she so desperately wanted to ask was on her lips when her gaze landed on the man they called Salamander.

Her mind went completely blank.

He was the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His hair was artfully messy and just begging for her fingers to run through it. His jaw was square and strong, Lucy wanted to kiss it. The most distinctive feature was the curly and stretched X like tattoo over his right eye. A highly inappropriate part of Lucy wanted to know if he had other tattoos.

Something in her thoughts didn't seem quite right but it was so hard to think with him right in front of her, waving to the group of girls. Some nearly fainted when he made eye contact with them. Lucy could only hope that he'd look her in the eye too.

Lucy couldn't help but be confused, she felt hot, and her mind was muddled and swirling with thoughts and wants and everything was solely focused on the mage in front of her. Her heart was beating so fast; she couldn't understand any of it. She wanted to duck away, to hide; to have space to sort out this strange new feeling. At the same time she never wanted to stop looking at him.

He laughed and spoke; all her feelings got worse at the sound of his voice. "I'm had." His voice was smoky and his words were like velvet. She wanted to hear him speak, more than that she desperately wanted him to speak to her and her alone. "I can't walk like this." He gestured to the girls surrounding him, but he was smiling.

Lucy hoped with all her heart that his smile meant he didn't want them to leave; she couldn't stand it if he wanted them all to leave him alone. Unless he wanted to be alone with her. She wanted to curl up under his cloak with him, to run her hands under his shirt and over his body. It was a desire she'd never felt with regards to anyone else before, yet here and now, it was consuming her.

What was happening?

He glanced up and looked at her. Their eyes met. His dark eyes were mesmerizing pools of ink. They could have put the rarest and most expensive gems in the world to shame. He was looking, with his wonderful gorgeous eyes, at her. Only at her.

Her heart stuttered to a stop before starting up again twelve times as fast as before.

Was it because he was famous? Was that why she was so nervous, scared, excited and happy? Was that why her heart felt like it could escape out of her chest just to be closer to him?

She dimly heard someone yelling something, but that wasn't important. The only thing important was him and him alone. What was this feeling? Wasn't it something she'd only read about before? Something she'd never thought she herself would have a chance to feel?

Lucy began to move forward, wanting to touch him, wanting to know that the man before her was real. Wanting to know that these feelings she had were real. These feelings she'd only read about, these feelings that made her feel like she could fly. These feelings that said that maybe perhaps she was in-

A loud almost deafening shout interrupted everything.

Salamander was distracted enough to let his magic falter so that Lucy's own passive magic could overpower the spell placed on her. Her heartrate returned to normal and she suddenly found that she could breathe. That she could focus on things other than the man in the dark cloak.

The one who had inadvertently saved her was a young man with pink hair and sharp eyes. However it was hard for Lucy to watch him interact with Salamander when she felt so numb. Her heart started to pound again, but for a completely different reason than before.

She'd been completely taken in by that creep and she could only watch as he practically controlled the girls still affected by the Charm Ring he had on his finger. Those girls weren't mages. There wasn't any way for them to break themselves free like Lucy did.

Thankfully, while highly illegal and creepy, the Charm Ring was limited. The girls should be fine so long as they were in a group.

With a flourish Salamander gave his signature to the highly unimpressed man on the ground. The charmed girls took great offense to that and kicked the pink haired man a ways away. Lucy did her best to disappear into the back of the crowd. It wasn't hard to do; another girl gladly took her place near Salamander.

With a snap of his fingers Salamander did some impressive fire magic, flying away and inviting everyone to a party on a ship that night. The girls eagerly followed after him, however they couldn't keep up with his magic. Even if they would have been fine in a group, Lucy felt more at ease now that the girls and Salamander were separated.

Now that Salamander was gone she approached the pink haired man and the odd blue cat standing next to him. She got near enough to hear him grumbling to himself and glaring at the trail of magical fire left in Salamander's wake.

"What is he?"

"He really is disgusting." She answered, perhaps needlessly. However it did get his attention. She smiled and waved. "Thanks for earlier." Even if he hadn't intended to do so, he did help her out a lot.

Both he and the cat looked at her with confusion. She could see the man's nose twitching. He suddenly stood up and leaned closer to her. Was he sniffing her?

"You smell familiar."

A small knot of panic formed in her stomach. Had he met one of the other Lucys? Was she supposed to know him? But what he said was kind of strange; wouldn't it usually be that she seemed familiar rather than smell familiar? "Oh well, I just have one of those…Smells?" He didn't look all that convinced. She needed to distract him somehow. "I'm Lucy by the way."

"Natsu, and this is Happy." He gestured to the cat.

"Aye!"

Lucy nearly jumped when Happy spoke. Really she shouldn't have been so surprised. Considering she'd never seen another blue cat before, it wasn't too strange to think that blue cats could speak.

Before anything else could be said, a loud almost desperate grumble sounded out, it was quickly joined by a smaller, but no less desperate growl. Both the young man and the cat looked at their stomachs forlornly. Lucy couldn't help but giggle.

"How about some lunch? My treat!"

She was rewarded with twin looks of awe and adoration. Lucy laughed again as they eagerly led her to a restaurant. Yet oddly enough, a shiver of dread prickled down her spine and she would swear her wallet was crying out in fear. She gave a small shake of her head and dismissed that ridiculous thought. They were just going to have lunch, what could be so bad about that?


	17. Chapter 17

Treating those two to lunch was the worst idea she'd ever had. Lucy had known that the two of them were hungry, their stomachs had made that abundantly clear; she just hadn't thought they were hungry enough to order everything on the menu. Thankfully That wasn't an option and the more expensive sea foods like lobster weren't on the lunch menu.

Her wallet was crying out even louder now at the loss of nearly half her remaining funds. Even though the waiter had taken one look at her and said everything was half off.

It was, admittedly, morbidly fascinating to watch all that food disappear down the throats of the two sitting across from her. The desperate way they scarfed down the food in front of them made her worried. The two of them had looked healthy, but now she had to wonder when the last time they ate was. Then again, if they had been starving, they wouldn't waste food by eating so sloppily. Half the food they touched ended up on the table, seats or floor. Though as messy as he was, somehow Natsu was able to avoid dribbling it onto his red coat. Thankfully his beautiful white uniquely patterned scarf was spared as well. Lucy herself wasn't so lucky.

They didn't even pause when they tried to talk to her. Whatever the rosette said, it sounded like a compliment. She could understand Happy a bit better, mostly because it was obvious he was agreeing with Natsu.

"You can slow down, you know, the food isn't going anywhere." It was the most polite thing she could think of. "And you are sort of…splashing it all over the place." She hoped the restaurant wouldn't charge her more because of the mess.

Natsu didn't pause or slow down his frantic eating pace, but he did become a little less messy. At least by the end of the meal she probably wouldn't be covered in sauces.

Because just watching someone eat like their life depended on it was sort of creepy and because she couldn't bring herself to eat the parfait she'd gotten, Lucy decided to just keep talking. "That Salamander guy was a real creep, using that Charm spell like that even though they've been banned for several years." She should really tell a guard about him, but she hadn't seen any at all and she didn't know where to find one. "Charm simply attracts other people's hearts to the caster, but with the power he was putting behind the spell, it was a bit more than that. Though thanks to you guys jumping in and distracting him, Charm wore off on me."

"I zee." Natsu said around a mouth full of meat. Considering that it looked like his entire focus was on ripping a piece off the bone, Lucy figured he was just being polite and not listening at all to her.

Lucy was fine with that. He probably didn't care and to be honest if their positions were switched, Lucy probably wouldn't either. After all, when lunch was over they probably wouldn't see each other again. Besides, her life was too short to be irritated by something like that.

"I heard Salamander was part of a guild too. I don't remember which, but I can't believe they'd actually let someone like that join! Then again, he probably worked hard at it; he wouldn't be as popular if he hadn't, most wouldn't consider a part time mage to be very interesting. After all, mages aren't considered to be good enough to work full time as a mage unless they're part of a guild.

"Though there are so many guilds all over the world, there are only a few ones that everyone knows about; the most popular ones. I heard they're pretty hard to get into. Especially the one I've admired the most… But I'm not a very strong mage, all things considered. So even if I did know how to get in, it probably wouldn't matter." She waved her hand in front of her face in a dismissive manner before resting her chin on her hands. "Still, everything I've ever heard about that guild makes me thing that it'd be a great place to be…If I joined, I bet I could have a great deal of fun there too."

"I see…" Natsu sounded a little lost. Both he and Happy had nearly cleared their plates throughout her whole speech.

"You talk a lot."

She couldn't help but blush at Happy's comment though she did her best to laugh it off. "Sorry about that." Yes, she did talk a bit too much, but to be fair, she hadn't had a real conversation with anyone in several months. "By the way, why did you so desperately want to meet with Salamander?"

"Oh! We're looking for someone!" Happy chirped.

Natsu nodded, "Igneel." He grabbed a loaf of bread and bit into it. "I heard that Salamander was coming to this town, so we came, but it was the wrong person."

"This Salamander didn't even look like a salamander." Happy agreed.

"I totally believed it would be Igneel too."

"How could a human look like a salamander?"

Natsu took another bite. "Hrm? He's not human. Igneel's a real dragon."

"Heh!?" He said it was such a straight and sincere face that Lucy couldn't help but believe him. However, there was something so off with his logic that she couldn't help but cry out. "There's no way a dragon would be in this town! Everyone would know about it!" Their honestly shocked faces at that didn't help at all. "Don't tell me you just thought of that!"

They were too stunned to reply.

With a sigh she set down enough Jewel to pay for their meal, plus some extra in case they wanted to order more. "I guess I'd better get going…But go ahead and take your time." With that she got up and left the booth they'd been in.

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say because they both burst into tears and got up after her.

"He-hey, what-"

"Thank you for the meal!" They both shouted, kneeling on the floor and bowing deeply. "Thank you!" That was the most overblown reaction she'd ever seen. Unless they really had been starving before. She hoped that wasn't the case. If it was, they probably wouldn't appreciate gorging themselves later.

"Don't!" She waved her arms in a placating gesture. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at them. It was far more attention than she'd ever wanted or needed. "Don't worry. You helped me too. So we're even now, right?" Please get off the floor. Would it be wrong to ask him that out loud?

Natsu's head was still bowed. "I don't feel like I've helped you at all…"

"Aye, I don't feel right either…"

"Oh! I know." Thankfully Natsu got up, if only to dig into his travel bag. "I'll give you this." He held out a card with a swirly and audacious signature that apparently belonged to Salamander.

"I don't want it!" Honestly, she knew he hadn't listened, but she did spend several minutes griping about how much of a creep that guy was. Still, she supposed it bore repeating. "The guy was a creep."

"Really? But you let us eat a lot of food! We need to give you something."

"Hm, well…" Considering his pink hair and blue cat, Natsu was probably a mage, so it couldn't hurt to ask. "You could answer something for me."

"What is it?"

"Do either of you know a Celestial Spirt mage?" Unconsciously her fingers brushed against the Keys at her waist.

Happy frowned with a confused look shared by his human companion. "What's a Celestial Spirit mage?" Well, there's that question answered.

"It's a mage who uses Keys to…Ah, You know what, never mind." She gave a smile to show that she was fine with their answer, even if it wasn't the one she'd hoped for. "That's all I'm really interested in right now." That and a cheap passage to Minstrel. "It was nice meeting you two."

With that said, she quickly left the restaurant before they could insist more on trying to repay her. It was probably a good thing they were going their separate ways; Natsu and Happy were really weird and far too eye catching for her own good. Even if that brief exchange was the most fun she'd had this week, as sad as that was.

She shook her head to get rid of that thought. There was no time for fun! She had a mission, and that had to come first. She could have fun when it was over. Lucy had spent more time than she'd anticipated not looking into her traveling options. She didn't want to say she was avoiding going to the docks to look up travel arrangements, however the thought of leaving Fiore still made her stomach twist with nerves.

It was starting to get ridiculous, to be honest. She hadn't felt nearly so conflicted and scared about leaving the Heartfilia manor. Why was this so different? She ran her fingers through her hair, mentally reminding herself again that she needed to dye it.

With a huff she made her way to a nearby park. Maybe she should summon Grandpa Crux and ask him about it. Because she was stalling again and it really wasn't like her. Even if he didn't have an answer, and he probably wouldn't, it'd still be nice to summon and talk with him. Talking or perhaps just thinking out loud might help.

With that in mind, she went to a secluded part of the park and decided to start by summoning Cancer.


	18. Chapter 18

With her hair freshly dyed a dull common brown and some interesting and weird information now known, Lucy found herself sitting on a bench contemplating what she needed to do next. It had been surprising but Crux had known why she didn't want to leave Fiore. Apparently there was a powerful item that needed and called out to the Golden Gate Keys. Because of this the Golden Keys felt that they had to stay in Fiore, and as she was the link between the ones she had and Earthland, she was, even unconsciously, reluctant to leave as well.

She huffed to herself as she looked up to the sky. It would have been nice if they'd told her about this beforehand. While she hadn't asked them if they wanted to leave Fiore, her spirits knew about what she had planned. Then again, they might not have been able to say. Celestial Spirits were like that.

She couldn't ask Crux about the item keeping the Zodiacs in Fiore; she didn't know its name and without that he couldn't say anything more than vague references. It was the same with finding other Celestial Spirit mages; unless she knew their names or they were dead, Crux couldn't talk at all about them. Lucy couldn't even ask about lady Leanna's mission, all the spirits were apparently bound by oath to not talk about it unless under certain specific circumstances they also weren't allowed to talk about or hint at.

So her search was limited to Fiore. That was fine, she could work with that, even if she'd have to keep looking over her shoulder and dodging attention. Crux had helpfully said that Fiore had the highest concentration of Celestial mages in the world. Something about how that mysterious item drew in all Gate Keys, not just the gold ones. Probably so that the gold ones would always have a summoner. Not that that'd really helped; Taurus had been lost for years in a cow pasture.

None the less, a part of Lucy didn't want to believe Crux's words. She'd been searching for eight months and hadn't found a single other Celestial mage. While eight months wasn't long and Fiore was big, it still felt like she was looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Now that she wasn't leaving Fiore she really needed to plan out what she was going to do now as opposed to on the way to her next destination. She needed a job, her funds were running out. However, she needed a job that would allow her the freedom to keep traveling and searching for other Celestial Spirit mages. The best job for that would probably be as a guild mage and there was only really one guild she wanted to join. But like she had told Natsu and Happy earlier, she didn't know the requirements needed for joining it nor did she feel she had the magic needed to pass whatever requirements there were. After all, she doubted Fairy Tail would accept just anybody.

She fingered the new silver Key attached to her key ring. She could and probably should summon Canis Minor soon, however both Cancer and Crux drained her magic too much. She also wanted the key to be a little bit more shiny than it was; the spirit wasn't likely to have enough energy to stay in Earthland long enough to create a contract at the moment.

With a sigh she pulled out her most recent copy of Sorcerer's Weekly and gave it a quick look through out of habit. There was no mention of any Celestial Spirit summoners that caught her eye, nor was there anything about Celestial Gate Keys. That done she flipped back to the front of the magazine and read through the articles in earnest.

It wasn't long before she came across a story that made her smile. "Fairy Tail caused trouble again?" She giggled as she read about how they got rid of the Devon thief family as well as several houses. There weren't any casualties, not even with the Devon thieves themselves, but she'd expected that. It was one of the things that Fairy Tail could be thoroughly relied upon for. The mage who did it hadn't stuck around for questioning but the other interviews made her laugh so hard it brought tears to her eyes.

Especially the one about how the mage literally ate all the food at a restaurant; they'd had to close until they got restocked. She didn't know why it was so incredibly funny, probably because it reminded her so much of that guy she met a couple of hours ago. She could easily imagine Natsu doing something like that.

"That's way too much!" She finally gasped out before moving on. The next page, as well as several afterwards, were all about Mirajane. It was probably strategic to make the reader forget about how destructive the other mage was.

"Fairy Tail's top model, Mirajane. I wonder if someone like her would be so reckless too…" Lucy certainly couldn't imagine Mirajane eating a restaurant out of business. Then again, Lucy didn't know what her main magic was; it could have something to do with gravity or some other highly intensive fat burning magic.

"How would I even join? Would I have to learn some stronger magic?" Her fingers gently caressed her Keys. She hoped that wouldn't be the case. The thought of anyone considering her spirits to be weak, even the mages of Fairy Tail, was upsetting. True she wasn't the best at using them, and she likely wasn't the ideal owner for them, however that was all on her rather than her spirits.

"Would I have to go through interviews?" If that was the case, she didn't even know where to begin or what she'd say. She could tell them her name, age and magic type but for everything else…

She sighed and rested her chin on a hand, looking down at the glossy pages with longing. "I really want to know…Fairy Tail…I wish they'd actually say how to join…"

"I see!" She cried out in shock as a man jumped up from the bushes next to the bench. "So you want to join Fairy Tail." It took a second to recognize him.

"S-Salamander?" Why was he hiding in the bushes? That's even creepier than using Charm! How long had he been spying on her for?

He kept talking as he freed himself from the foliage. "I've been looking all over for you…" That was even worse! "I really wanted to invite a beautiful lady like you to our party on the ship."

She scrambled up and quickly put some distance between them. "What are you trying to pull? First the Charm and now stalking? Why should I go anywhere with you?" One of Charm's weak points was awareness; so long as she was aware he had it, it was much easier to fight off its effects.

Salamander smirked. "I knew it! I knew you were a mage when our eyes met." He spread his arms out as if motioning for a hug and Lucy was suddenly very aware that it was only the two of them in this area of the park. "That Charm was just a little test. I'm pleased to say that you passed. I'd be very happy if you'd just come to the party."

Lucy gritted her teeth; why should she care about his happiness? She fingered a specific golden Key. Taurus, as obsessed with boobs as he was, was frightfully good at dealing with pushy men and unwanted advances. However, she had summoned Cancer not too long ago and she wasn't sure just how good Salamander was with his fire. As much as she hated it, if things went bad she'd likely have to use Taurus to stall as she made a run for it.

"There's no way I'd go to such a nasty guy's party."

"Nasty? Me?" He looked hurt, and confused. However, something about it made Lucy think he was faking.

"Using magic like Charm to entice girls. How much worse could you get?"

"I told you, it's a trial. Completely harmless. Besides, can you blame me for wanting to be the star of the party?"

"Isn't it your party?" She gritted her teeth and turned away. It was risky, even though she kept all her other senses trained on that man, turning her back to him made her skin crawl. However, she really hoped he'd just let her walk away. "Never mind, someone like you isn't worth being considered popular."

"Wait up!" She heard him taking several steps closer to her, even as she walked away. Her hands drifted down to her Keys again. "Don't you want to join Fairy Tail?"

His sudden question made her stop. That was right, she'd been talking out loud when he'd been spying on her. She should just keep walking and ignore any attempts he made to talk to her. Still she couldn't help but turn around to look at him in confusion. What would he know about joining Fairy Tail?

"Did you know I'm part of a guild?" At her hesitant nod his smirk grew. "Have you heard what they call the best fire mage in Fairy Tail?"

It suddenly clicked. The magazines didn't actually talk about Fairy Tail's Salamander often, at least not by that name, but when they did it was with exceptional acts of magic and bravery. "I…You're part of Fairy Tail?" She gaped.

He chuckled, "I am. If you want to join, I could talk to the master for you. It'll make things much easier for you if you have a recommendation. Just come to the party, so I can get to know you better."

She couldn't help but stare at him for a second in awe. Here he was offering up her dream job of being a Fairy Tail mage, even after she'd called him a creep and nasty. Her heart sped up at the thought of being a guild mage, of being a Fairy Tail mage. Lucy smiled. "It'll be a wonderful party, right?" And hopefully the start of the most wonderful years of her life.

He laughed again, "It will be with you there."

"And, can-can I really join Fairy Tail?"

"Of course! But please, don't tell anyone else about the Charm test."

"Okay!" She sing songed. Somehow, knowing now that he was from Fairy Tail, the idea that the Charm was a test was easier to believe. If it was a test, then it'd be difficult if everyone knew about it. "Okay!" She chirped again, because she still couldn't believe she'd have a chance at joining Fairy Tail. That the opportunity had just fallen into her lap like that.

"I'll see you at the party then." With that, Salamander left with only a wave.

"Yes sir!" Lucy saluted, even though the other mage wouldn't be able to see. Her heart was still pounding and it felt like she was floating. She could join Fairy Tail. She dropped her hand from the salute, her hand brushing against her Keys. One of them, likely Aquarius, scalded her fingers and abruptly brought her back to reality.

Lucy choked on air as she remembered the last few minutes of that conversation. "I got Charmed again!" Still, a sense of anticipation that had nothing to do with Charm magic bubbled up inside her. "I can join Fairy Tail!" She jumped for joy. "I'll just have to be friendly with that guy until I join." It sounded a bit mean, even to herself, but well he was a jerk using and manipulating girls like that with magic. She supposed it was normal for a guild that size to have one or two people like that in it. She'd just have to be friendly now and then avoid him after joining and making other friends.

Thankfully the knowledge of what Salamander was actually like didn't dim her excitement. She gleefully trotted back into the main parts of Hargeon so she could prepare for tonight.


	19. Chapter 19

Getting dressed in a public restroom was, admittedly, not one of the most uncomfortable things Lucy had ever done. Though it was still something she didn't particularly enjoy. However, to call this little building hidden in the park a restroom was a bit of a disservice. It looked more like the bathroom in a hotel than a public restroom. The only thing it was missing was an actual bath or a shower. It was also big enough for her to move about while having a spirit in the room with her.

"Thanks again for holding everything, Horologium." She murmured, gently placing a bag within the glass case of the spirit. There were a few other small bags there, as well as her normal pair of boots, which she'd swapped out for fancier heels.

"It is alright, but please remember, while storing items inside me I shall be unable to come to your aid should you need it."

She smiled in response. "I know, I'll try to find a place to stay soon. That's all for now."

With a nod the clock spirit vanished back to the Celestial Realm, taking her things with him. Lucy stared at the place he'd been. She still couldn't believe where she'd found the useful spirit. Who in their right mind would use a Celestial gate key to wind a clock? He wasn't even being summoned, his key was just being used to wind the mechanism. Celestial spirits weren't meant to be used like that! Poor Horologium had been willing to agree to just about any contract to get out of that mess.

Lucy shook those thoughts from her head. It was in the past, Horologium was hers now and she wouldn't allow him to be abused in that way ever again.

Sighing she checked herself in the mirror one last time. Her flower hair decoration looked nice, she didn't need to use much, if any makeup, her dress was straight and it went with her hand bag. Lucy took one last deep breath before leaving the restroom.

She was going to be fine, she told herself. It wasn't any different from flirting with store clerks in order to get a discount. If there was trouble, with any luck it wouldn't happen for a few hours. Long enough to replenish her magic so that she could summon one of her Zodiacs. Well, at least Taurus or Aquarius. After dying her hair, Cancer had wanted to change his available days. Probably because he still didn't like her current hair color.

It wasn't hard to find the port, and even at night the ocean still looked beautiful. The full moon reflected off the waves making it look like diamonds sparkling on a black velvet blanket. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to enjoy it as much as she would have liked. Salamander hadn't given her a time for when the party would start, but it was apparently earlier than she'd thought. The party was already in full swing judging from the crowd on the deck.

Salamander was waiting for her on the dock. He smiled as she approached. "You made it! I'm glad."

She returned his smile. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Oh no, you're not, don't worry about it. The other girls were just eager." He gestured to the ship. "Shall we?"

Lucy nodded politely and made her way up the gang plank. The yacht was impressive, most especially the high upper deck held aloft by four thick wooden pillars. But even the littler things, such as the smoothness of the railing or the elegant shape of the anchor were attention grabbing and spoke of great taste. Idly she wondered how it'd compare to the Argo.

Apparently they had been the only ones left to get on, as the ship was quickly untied and moved to the open ocean. Lucy hadn't expected the ship to be so difficult to walk on. With its constant movement and sway, navigating the deck in her heels made her long for her flatter more sensible boots. More often than not she wound up clinging to Salamander's arm, he was thankfully a good sport about it.

She giggled the first time it happened. "Sorry, I'm afraid I've never been on a boat before."

"That's alright," he laughed. "You'll have your sea legs soon enough, I'm sure."

Despite her unfortunate lack of balance it was shaping up to be a wonderful party. There was plenty of good quality food and wine scattered about on the various tables. The almost exclusively female party goers were smiling, chatting and seemed to be having a good time. Given the quality of both the refreshments and the ship, Lucy had to wonder just how much money a guild mage earns. The food alone would have been several hundred thousand Jewel.

In any other circumstance, Lucy herself would have had a blast. However, despite the number of other women attending the party, Salamander's attention seemed focused on Lucy and Lucy alone. He did say he wanted to get to know her better, but ignoring the others seemed quite rude to Lucy. More than that, something about the way he looked at her reminded Lucy of Lord Heartfilia. She couldn't understand why that was. His eyes weren't nearly as cold or as distant. He didn't look at her like she was less than nothing. There wasn't even a hint of madness in them. While they did share a similar eye color, Natsu did as well and, though their interaction was brief, she'd never felt that way around him.

Yet still, that resemblance was there. It grated on her nerves and made her shoulders tense. It didn't help that he was soon leading her away from the rest; to someplace quieter, he'd said. A place where they could get to know each other, so he could see if she was Fairy Tail material.

He brought her to a sitting room on the upper level. It was a lovely little place with plush couches, a cute little table and silk curtains surrounding the space to give it a cozy intimate feel. It might have been the way his attention was focused only on her, or it might be because they were alone once again, but all of her senses were murmuring and whispering warnings of danger. They weren't screaming yet, but she knew enough that this wasn't a good position to be in.

"So you know who I am," Salamander gestured for her to take a seat at one of the couches. "And though we've known each other for this long, I can't say I know who you are. Would you tell me?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! It's Lucy."

"Lucy, huh? That's such a pretty name." He complimented, staring down at her across from where she'd settled.

"Thanks," she chirped.

"Before we get started, let's toast with a glass of wine." He poured the red liquid into the glass in front of her.

"If it's just wine, wouldn't it be better with some other girls?" Lucy was suddenly acutely aware that she hadn't eaten much all day. What's more she couldn't help but notice that he set the bottle down and didn't seem interested in pouring himself a glass.

"It's okay. Besides, isn't it easier to get to know each other over a drink?" With a snap of his fingers droplets floated out of the glass and hovered in the air before her. "Try opening your mouth, let these pearls of wine enter and entice you."

The alarms in her head were growing louder and louder. She didn't need anyone to tell her how suspicious this whole thing was, though Aquarius's key had grown hot enough in warning to burn her thigh regardless.

Lucy steadied herself, this may be her only chance at getting into Fairy Tail. With hidden reluctance she closed her eyes and opened her mouth.

She could only hope that Fairy Tail would be worth it. It'd have to be, right?

However a small thought wormed its way into her mind, what would happen to her keys if she were to commit to this?

Lucy slapped the wine droplets away from her and stood. Even if it was her dream guild, even if working there was something she needed to do; nothing was worth leaving herself and her keys so vulnerable at the hands of this creep. The wine splashed on the table, staining the white cloth covering it. Salamander looked shocked and alarmed, but not confused. He knew exactly why she slapped the wine away.

"What are you planning?" She'd read and experienced enough that the answer should be obvious, however he hadn't looked at her the way the more persistent admirers did, with want and desire. She didn't know what he was thinking when he looked at her, however anything that reminded her of Lord Heartfilia was probably not a good thing. She just wished she hadn't pushed aside her worries until now. "It was drugged, wasn't it?"

He hissed wordlessly, bowing his head as if he felt guilty he'd been caught. The rest of his posture was still too confident for her piece of mind. "How did you know?" Salamander sounded genuinely curious when he asked that, as if it was hard to figure out.

"I might still want to join Fairy Tail," she began, because despite Salamanders actions she still really did want to join. "But there are limits! Lines you just don't cross!"

"You're a bad girl," he grunted out, "If you'd peacefully gone to sleep you wouldn't have to get hurt."

"Eh?" Before she even had a chance to ask about what that meant, hands shot out from what she'd thought had been a curtain covered wall to grab at her arms. The owner of one of the arms pushed the curtain aside. The cozy little room was suddenly significantly bigger and full of men with arms as thick as her waist. Her arms looked like twigs in comparison to the big meaty hands holding on to them. "What's going on?"

"Oooh, good job lord Salamander." One of the ones holding her spoke up. He was balding and licking his lips in anticipation as his other hand joined the first on her left arm.

The other one holding her, the man who'd pushed the curtains aside was grinning dumbly down at her. "We haven't had such a pretty one for a while."

"Who are you?" Despite her best efforts, her voice shook. With her arms held she couldn't grab her keys. She couldn't fight. They had the couch between her body and theirs, so she couldn't use her feet or head to strike at them and make them let go.

A hand grabbed her chin and roughly turned her so she'd have no choice but to face the man responsible for this. Salamander was grinning nastily at her, as if her fear and confusion were something amusing. "Welcome to our slave ship." His cultured and almost soft tones had vanished, replaced by something harsher and rougher. "I must ask you to remain silent until we get to Bosco, lady."

Panic fogged her mind, "Bosco? What happened to Fairy Tail." If Aquarius were out, she'd probably slap her for still thinking about that guild. It was obvious that Fairy Tail was just a ruse to get her on board.

The men around her roared with laughter. Salamander laughed the hardest. "I told you, it's a slave ship. I brought you in as merchandise from the beginning." Oh, that's what was familiar. "Just give up."

He was looking at her as if she were a thing to use for his own gain. Lord Heartfilia looked at everyone like that. Like she was nothing more or less than a simple tool for him to use and dispose of as he saw fit. Or in this case, sell.

The similarities were so striking it left her speechless and nauseous. The men kept talking, complementing Salamander on his part of the plan and confident that Lucy wouldn't be able to escape. She couldn't keep from shuddering when one of them mentioned training her.

How could people even think like this?

She jerked as she felt a hand against her thigh, brushing the garter where she kept her keys. Lucy couldn't help but be relieved when Salamander only took her keys. It was quickly replaced with guilt and panic because he took her keys!

He twirled them around his finger, making them jangle sharply. "Gate keys huh? I see…You're a Celestial Spirit mage."

"Celestial what?" The balding man holding her asked. "You know we don't know about magic."

"Don't worry about it." Salamander sauntered away from them. Lucy gritted her teeth and fought the urge to yell at him for treating her keys so carelessly. Doing so wouldn't help anything at all. "Only contracted mages can use this magic. It's useless for me." Lucy had the briefest moments of relief. If they were useless, it meant he wasn't going to kill her and take them for himself or sell them on.

Then with a flick of his wrist he sent the key ring flying off his finger and out the window.

Lucy would swear her heart stopped.

He threw them away.

Her keys, her spirits. Her friends. And he just threw them away.

How could he?

How dare he!

Tears gathered and fell from her eyes. She was so angry she couldn't breathe.

Salamander had gone to a half hidden fireplace and pulled out a brand. As if to add insult to injury, the largest part of the symbol on the brand looked like a keyhole. "Let me brand you first." He practically cooed.

"I can't believe any guild would want someone like you in it." She put as much venom into her voice and words as she could. The thought of him actually being a member of that guild hurt. The place she'd admired so much when reading about, the place that rarely, if ever, killed if it was possible, the place that always seemed so fun and full of life…She couldn't imagine a guild with a reputation like that letting their members go around drugging girls or throwing away keys. Had even that been a lie? Was Mirajane and those interviews just a facade to hide the world's worst scum?

At her words, Salamanders face twisted into a snarl. She must have touched a nerve because he snapped his fingers and his magical fire turned the red hot brand white. "It'll be a little hot," he sneered, "please bear with it." He then grinned, as if the thought of touching the burning metal to her flesh would be the best thing ever.

Lucy struggled against the hands holding her, but they didn't relent. She couldn't break free, she couldn't fight back.

Her spirits were probably at the bottom of the ocean. She couldn't keep her promise to them. Knowing that hurt her more than the thought of being branded did.

"You really are the worst mage ever." She hiccupped out, bracing herself for the pain. It was the only thing she could do now.

And then the ceiling broke.


	20. Chapter 20

A man crashed down from up above. The force of his landing managed to push Salamander and his white hot brand away from where Lucy was being held. In their shock the men holding onto her let go, allowing her to move away from them.

Her savor had pink hair, a red coat and a white scale patterned scarf. She gaped at him, even as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Natsu?"

The boat rocked and he collapsed against the nearest wall. "No," he gagged, "I can't take it."

"Eh?! What's wrong?" Was he motion sick? But he just got onto the boat, hadn't he?

Meanwhile Salamander and his crew recovered from their shock. Some of them even commented on the state of Natsu's weak stomach.

The sound of flapping wings got Lucy's attention just as a familiar high pitched voice called out. "Lucy! What are you doing?"

"Happy?" She supposed it made sense, considering Natsu was there too, but somehow she just didn't expect the small blue cat to make an appearance. Then his words registered in her mind. "I- He said he was with Fairy Tail, and I- I really wanted to join and…And…" It was at that moment that she realized there was something different about Happy. "Wait…Did you have wings before?"

He dove at her. "We'll talk about that later." Smoothly he pulled up, wrapping his tail around her waist and bringing her out of reach of the grabby hands of her would be captors. "Let's get you out of here."

"Woah!" Who knew he had such a strong tail. Or wings. However, as amazing as it was, Natsu was still crouched against the wall, still seasick and helpless against Salamander and his group of thugs. "Wait, what about Natsu!"

"I can't carry two people." He sounded completely unconcerned. Did that mean she should be as well? His limit made sense, considering his size. Though all things considered a blue talking flying cat didn't make much sense at all.

A stunned "oh dear…" was all she could manage.

"I won't let you get away!" Salamander cried, sending a spiral of fire at the two of them.

Thankfully Happy managed to dodge out of the way and only a gentle heat from that vicious flame managed to lick at Lucy's ankles. After a few more shouts the two soon found themselves being shot at.

Bullets whizzed past them, making Lucy cry out in fear, however the shooters weren't a very good shot. Throughout it all, Happy stayed frustratingly calm.

"Hey, Lucy, listen,"

"What?" She snapped at the cat though he didn't deserve it, but to be fair to Lucy, she'd never been shot at before and it was a new and terrifying experience. "What's wrong now?"

"My magic is wearing off."

"Heh?" That sounded bad; how could he be so nonchalant?

Abruptly they plummeted down to the dark ocean below. Lucy had just enough time to cry out again before plunging into the depths.

Thankfully Miss Layla's claims that her number was lucky seemed to be the truth. The moon was full, the water was clear and it was shallow enough that Lucy could reach the bottom. Though the salt stung at her eyes, she could see things clearly enough. If that luck held out she should be able to find her keys.

Swimming while wearing heels felt awkward, however she couldn't do much to fix it at the moment; she only had so much air. She was dimly aware that Happy was following her instead of surfacing himself, but she quickly dismissed him from her mind.

She needed to find her keys.

If she could find them then that was one problem solved. If she found them then she could focus on saving the rest of those girls and Natsu.

There, just as her lungs were starting to burn, a glint caught her eye not far from where she was. Her keyring had gotten caught on a rock, a bit closer to the surface than she was. As fast as she could she grabbed them and kicked off from their resting place back to the surface with Happy clinging to her shoulders.

She breached with a gasp and a gagging sputter, because sea water tasted worse than it smelled. As soon as she could breathe she looked to the ship. It was too far away to swim to and it was only getting further away.

She quickly grabbed a familiar key and spoke words that were ingrained in her heart as she plunged the key into the ocean. "I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

With a brilliant light and the sound of a ringing doorbell the blue haired mermaid appeared.

The sight of her spirit broke through Happy's calm demeanor and he made a loud impressed noise.

"This is what a Celestial Spirit mage does, Happy. They use Celestial gate keys to summon spirits from another world." She turned to the spirit, kicking rapidly to bring herself higher out of the water. "Aquarius, I need you to bring that boat back to the coast, but don't destroy it, please."

The woman with sea colored hair glared at Lucy from the corner of her eye. "Tch."

"Eh?" The mermaid looked really angry. Lucy couldn't figure out why; it was the one day of the week Aquarius was available to be summoned, more than that Lucy knew the touchy spirit didn't have a date planned today. "What's wrong?"

"You're such a careless brat." The older woman growled, "let me tell you one thing." Abruptly she got much closer to Lucy. The water churned around them, reflecting the pure rage in the spirits blue eyes. "If you drop the keys again, I'll kill you."

"Y-yes…Sorry."

With a mighty and angry roar Aquarius swung her urn, unleashing a wave of tremendous proportions pushing the ship, along with Lucy and Happy, back towards the small town of Hargeon. It was all Lucy could do to keep herself close to Happy and not choke on the salt water that was everywhere.

When the world stopped moving Lucy found herself and Happy on the upper deck of the now beached yacht. Aquarius appeared, leaning on the railing from the other side and smirking down on Lucy.

Lucy spat out some seawater. "Wha-what were you thinking? That was dangerous! We could have died!"

The mermaid face palmed, "ah, my bad, I got the ship too."

"You were aiming at me?!" It really shouldn't have surprised Lucy, Aquarius wasn't pleased with having Lucy as her summoner and she made it very clear as often as possible. Thankfully she usually did do what Lucy asked her to, even if only in a backhanded way.

"Don't call me for a while." The spirit ordered as her gate closed. Lucy didn't have the power to keep it open for much longer and the former blonde suspected Aquarius didn't want to stay on Earthland longer than was needed regardless. "I'm going on a trip for a week with my boyfriend." She paused a second before repeating the last three words, with strong emphasis on the middle one.

"You don't have to repeat that!" Aquarius's form finally vanished, disappearing like stars when faced with daylight. "Ugh, I swear…" Lucy complimented Aquarius on how cool her boyfriend sounded once. Now the spirit was either gloating about having him or making sure Lucy knew that he was hers. Lucy was never sure which one it was with Aquarius.

In the meantime, Happy had recovered. "You don't really get along, huh?"

"It's complicated. But it worked!" She peeked past the railing to the people gawking on the beach below. "Once the guards hear about this and arrive at the scene all the other girls will be safe too!" Maybe they'll even arrest Salamander and his group. "It'll all work out!"

"Ack!" Happy suddenly cried. Quickly he got up and started walking towards the ships cabins. "We forgot Natsu inside."

However, despite his words, he didn't seem to be in a particular hurry. Probably because the door to where Natsu, and Salamander, were wasn't that far away. Still Lucy rushed to follow him.

Natsu had been horribly seasick and stuck with those thugs for what seemed like forever. Not to mention the turbulence from Aquarius's wave, there was a high chance that he was hurt and at the mercy of Salamander. While Lucy didn't have enough magic to summon another spirit, there was nothing wrong with her arms and she hoped she could at least hold them off long enough for some guards to arrive.

With those thoughts in mind she threw the door open. "Natsu!" The room was unusually warm, though Lucy brushed that off as both unimportant and because of her little dip in the ocean and the cold night air. "Are you oka-" She cut herself off at the sight in front of her.

The pink haired man looked healthy and unharmed, but mostly he looked angry. Very angry.

She was really glad he wasn't glaring at her like that. She was honestly surprised the subject of his gaze, Salamander, didn't burst into flames from the heat of it.

Salamander didn't actually seem to be affected by it at all. He lazily scratched his cheek. "Brat," he drawled, "you shouldn't get on other people's ships without permission."

Lucy's jaw dropped. Why was he saying something like that? Did the last few minutes not register in his mind at all? Where was he when Aquarius was tossing the ship about like a toy?

Natsu suddenly started taking off his jacket. She half wanted to yell at him because now really wasn't the time to strip down. Even if it was shockingly hot despite the hole in the cabin roof.

Did both men hit their heads when the boat was pushed to shore?

"Hey!" Salamander snapped to his lackeys, "throw him out, quick!"

"Oh no!" She grabbed her keys; she might not be able to summon Taurus for long, but he should be able to help at least a little. "Hang on, I'll-"

Happy interrupted her. "Don't worry. I forgot to tell you, but Natsu is a mage too."

"Eh?" That's right, she'd thought he was one when they first met. Though it was hard to remember when she saw him getting rushed at by guys that were bigger and heavier than he was. Still, she could see that he was calm and unconcerned as he tossed his coat to the side.

"Are you a mage of Fairy Tail?"

Salamander scoffed as his men closed in on the rosette. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Let me take a good look at your face."

Lucy bit her lip and fingered Taurus's key. Natsu was so focused on Salamander he didn't seem to notice the fists rushing to his face. It would take her a few seconds to summon her loyal bull, and there was no guarantee that Natsu wouldn't be terribly injured by then. They were both running out of time to act.

Suddenly, almost casually, Natsu shoved the balding man's face into the other one's jaw. "I'm Natsu from Fairy Tail." He proclaimed loudly over the sound of the two goons falling over. "I've never seen you before!" The goons crashed to the ground and with that danger gone Lucy could register the symbol that rested in red on his right shoulder. The same symbol she'd seen in white on Mirajane's left thigh.

Salamander flinched back, his face was pale and his eyes were wide with fear as he gaped in shock.

Lucy herself was stunned as well. "Fairy Tail?" She gasped out. While she had figured Natsu was a mage, she hadn't expected him to be a guild mage. Much less one from her favorite guild. "Natsu is a mage from Fairy Tail?" It was so shocking it bore repeating.

"Wha? That mark!" One of the grunts gaped.

"He's real Mr. Bora!" Another cried.

"I-idiot! Don't call me by that name!" The boss, Salamander or rather Bora snapped. As if that was the most important concern he had.

"Bora…" Happy mused from somewhere behind Lucy. "Bora of Prominence. He was banished from the guild Titian Nose several years ago."

She turned a bit to glance at the cat. "I've heard of him…Wasn't he banned because he committed several thefts using magic?" No wonder he got angry when she said no guild would want him.

"I don't care if you're a good person or a bastard," Natsu growled out. Lucy would swear she could hear his teeth grinding despite how far away he was from her. "I can't forgive you for using our name."

"Whatever!" Bora barked, "you're just a noisy brat!" Without much fanfare Natsu was engulfed in a fire storm.

"Natsu!" Mage or not, fire wasn't something anyone could shrug off. She couldn't hear him crying out from pain, but that was probably even worse than if he was screaming his lungs out. She started moving forward. There wasn't any water in the immediate area to summon Aquarius with. Nor did she have another spirit who could help put out fire, or deal with burns, but there had to be something she could do!

Happy, however, had apparently recovered enough to use his own magic again and was using his newly formed wing to hold her back. Lucy was dumbstruck.

How could he hover there with such a calm face while Natsu was burning? She'd heard that cats were little jerks, but surely they weren't heartless. Yet, Happy floated there, holding her back as if nothing was wrong. Even when she could just make out Natsu's silhouette falling to the floor Happy remained stoic. She wanted to grab at the cat. To shake and scream at him, because Natsu was on the floor, on fire and silent. However, shock kept her limbs frozen and stole the voice from her throat. Lucy could do nothing. She heard Bora let out a satisfied grunt, however Lucy couldn't tear her eyes away from the burning figure.

It had only been a few seconds of watching the fire twist and writhe, but it felt like an eternity before Natsu's voice abruptly rang out amongst the crackling of the flame. "Awful."

Everyone could only stare in silence as the silhouette calmly stood up. Lucy couldn't even think, while the shock before had numbed her body, this time it was her mind that wouldn't work. She could only watch and listen as a faint chewing sound became more and more audible.

"What is this?" Natsu's voice sounded almost exactly like it had hours ago, when he was talking around a mouth full of bread. "Are you really a fire mage? I've never tasted such awful fire." Even as he spoke the flames surrounding him shrank back, making it easier to see that, yes, he really was eating the fire.

The look on Bora's face would have been comical if Lucy wasn't sure she was making a similar one.

It took no time at all for the magical fire to vanish completely, leaving only wisps of smoke to cling to his body and his miraculously undamaged clothes. Despite his words regarding the taste, the rosette let out a satisfied breath accompanied by a cocky smirk. "Thanks for the meal."

There was a brief beat of silence before every conscious human in the room started freaking out.

"Wha?" Bora started shrieking, "what is he?"

"Fire!"

"Did he just eat fire?"

Happy chuckled. Lucy hadn't known it was possible for something so small to be so smug. "Fire won't work on Natsu."

Lucy could only gape as her brain started working again. It was good, Natsu was alive. Natsu was fine and hadn't been burned to death before her eyes. She was probably going to have nightmares about it for weeks, but Natsu was fine and that was good. "I've never seen anything like that before." At least she managed not to sound like an idiot when speaking out loud.

"Now that I've eaten," The strange, thankfully fire proof, mage braced himself. The smoke twisted around him and the temperature rose even more. "I can feel my power!" If she was any less shocked, she would have laughed at how cheesy Natsu sounded.

He inhaled deeply, the smoke trailing up and swirling into his mouth like water in a vortex. Dimly she could hear one of Bora's men telling his boss something. "Here I come!"

He moved his hands in front of his face and exhaled, a large plume of fire emerged just as the talkative man shouted.

"…The real!"

He never got to finish, Natsu's fire was large and all encompassing. It seemed to be more of a physical force than a display of heat. It threw the men in all different directions and broke down the walls of the cabin.

The man hadn't finished, but he really hadn't needed to. Lucy could easily connect the dots herself. Facing down Bora, with pink hair, bearing a red guild mark and wearing a white scaled scarf was the only person worthy of the title. "Salamander…" Lucy murmured in awe.

"Remember this well." Natsu growled out, punching Bora with a flaming fist while surrounded by a sea of smoke. "You sorry excuse for a mage!"

Bora struck the ground with a loud crash. He bounced while his men watched on in horror and fear.

"Eating fire and punching with fire," Lucy continued her awed mumblings, "is it really magic?"

"Dragon's lungs spew flames, it's scales melt flames and it's nails are dressed with flames. Happy started talking, still looking smugger than Lucy had ever seen before. "It's an ancient spell that gives someone's body a dragon's constitution."

"What's that?" In her stunned state she could only follow about half of what Happy was talking about, but the main thing she couldn't understand was how he could stand so close to where Natsu was happily beating on Bora and his men. If the guild mages were half as destructive as Natsu was being, she was starting to see where Fairy Tail got its reputation for mass destruction from. She didn't have the courage to move away from the wall with the way the fire mage was punching and setting fire to everything that moved. Even as the number of men around him shrank as he threw them out of the cabin.

"It's originally dragon slaying magic." Happy answered.

"…I see…"

"Dragon slayer!" Happy exclaimed as Natsu kicked the last foe out of the cabin with a flaming foot. "Igneel taught Natsu this."

Now that the person of mass destruction was out of the relatively enclosed space, Lucy's mind picked up on something odd that Happy just said.

"Isn't it weird that a dragon taught someone dragon slaying magic?" She wasn't surprised at the shocked look Happy gave her, considering earlier that day both he and Natsu thought a dragon would appear in the middle of town. "You didn't even think about it, did you."

That said she carefully picked her way over to where she could see her purse laying. It had somehow survived the destruction of the cabin and was relatively unsinged. The sounds of fighting continued on loudly. "Dragon slayer, huh." She dusted some debris off of her purse before going to pick up Natsu's coat. "Amazing," with their loose items now gathered she and Happy made their way to the still loud noises of the fight. "Really amazing but…"

They got off the yacht just in time to see Natsu starting to fight using the mast as a bludgeoning tool.

"You're completely overdoing it!" She shouted, hoping to get him to stop before he completely destroyed the town. "Look around! The port's all messed up!"

"Aye!" Happy cheerfully contributed.

"Don't just give me an 'Aye!" There's no way this wasn't going to make the news. Hopefully she wouldn't get her picture taken, especially not a black and white one. It would be too obvious about what she was to Lord Heartfilia.

Shouts and the sound of running armored feet soon sounded out over the, thankfully, quieting noise of battle.

"The guards?" Lucy gassed. Why had it taken them so long to appear? She was abruptly yanked away. "Ack! What?"

"Crap! Let's get out of here!" Natsu grumbled, pulling her along while running so fast her feet weren't even touching the ground.

"Why me too?" She wailed.

He looked back at her, smiling wide, his eyes were bright and full of laughter. "You want to join Fairy Tail, right?" Was he serious? Even after all that, after she fell so completely for Bora's lies, Natsu would want her to join? She gave a tentative, hopeful, smile. His own grin widened. "Then come with me."

There was only one thing she could really say to that. "Okay!"

Even when he let go of her hand and she had to run on her own power in shoes that were not suited to outrunning anything, Lucy could safely say she had never felt so light or so free.


	21. Chapter 21

While they managed to lose the guards, they didn't leave Hargeon yet. Natsu had stashed his pack somewhere and Lucy desperately needed to change her clothes, or at least her shoes.

Her dress was probably ruined. She didn't know what salt water could do to clothes, but she couldn't imagine it was good for them. It didn't really matter all that much, it was just a dress, but it was a nice looking one and she'd spent good money on it. Her shoes were goners as well. They simply weren't made for running away or swimming, or really doing anything more than standing, sitting and looking pretty. Her ankles were probably going to kill her later as well.

Lucy and Natsu argued a bit on what to do first, before deciding to split up. She wasn't entirely sure the fire mage understood why exactly Lucy wanted to get out of her salt covered clothes. She was a bit concerned, but Natsu seemed pretty confident that he'd be able to find her again.

A small cynical part of her wondered if Natsu was going to take the opportunity to ditch her. However doing so didn't make much sense, considering he dragged her away from the guards in the first place. Why bother doing so if he was going to leave her behind? More than that, Natsu didn't seem like that kind of guy.

Somehow she found herself in the same restroom that she'd gotten changed in before. She nearly cried when, upon summoning Horologium, Lucy found that the entire ordeal she'd just gone through had only lasted for about an hour and a half.

"Are you alright, Lucy?"

"'M fine." She squeaked out. At some point, without her realizing it, she'd collapsed to the floor, and curled against the wall near the sink. Horologium settled next to her. "It's been a long day."

"So I've heard. You've had quite the adventure since the last time I was summoned." Lucy couldn't help but let out a slightly hysterical giggle at his dry tone. "I won't be able to stay out for very long."

"I know, I know." With a deep breath Lucy tried to compose herself. "I'll just take a bag with me." She grabbed one of the larger ones, a suitcase, that she'd already stored her usual clothes and whip in. Lucy then quickly exchanged shoes before dismissing her friend.

With him gone she sagged back down. She couldn't remember the last time she'd used so much magic in one day. Her reserves were nearly all gone. All she wanted to do now was curl up somewhere soft and sleep for a few days.

At the same time, she couldn't help but feel thrilled. While getting captured and being helpless wasn't something she'd like to repeat anytime soon, or at all. The rest of it, however had brought out a strange rush. Her escape with Happy, diving in the water, pushing the boat to the shore…Even watching Natsu fight had brought fourth an addicting feeling. Lucy found herself wanting more.

Was that what it'd be like in Fairy Tail? Full of fast paced danger and excitement?

With shaky legs she got up and stripped out of her salt covered dress. Thankfully it wasn't wet anymore. It'd dried out between the intense heat that had been briefly contained in the yachts cabin as well as the run through town. Regardless, it was shoved into the most isolated part of the suitcase she could find.

Before getting dressed she took a towel and dampened it in the sink before running it all over her body. It probably didn't do much to get her clean, but it made her feel much better. Soon enough her body was as clean as it was going to get. She wrung it out and stuffed it in with the dress.

She paused, taking in the image of herself displayed in the mirror over the sink. Her bare upper half stared back at her. She took in her tired brown eyes and the beginnings of a bruise along her ribs where Happy's tail had held her entire weight aloft.

With a sigh she lifted up her left breast, revealing small white numbers displayed in the crease where it met her torso. There was no real need for her to look at them; they hadn't changed since the last time she'd seen them. However it had become a habit after one of the other Lucys convinced her that she wasn't the Lucy she thought she was.

Now she had to wonder what her potential new guild mates would think should they see the strange small tattoo. Or would they even notice? The numbers were small, little larger than a grain of rice. They weren't written in a straight line, rather they curved slightly, following her body's natural crease between her mammary and torso. The paleness of her skin and the natural weight of her breast hid them further. Letting her breast go, she could hardly see it at all. Even then, it was only because she was looking for it.

In any case, how often would her guild mates ever see her bare chest? No one ever would, if she could help it.

Shaking her head from those thoughts, she dug out a hairbrush and wetted it down before working on her brown locks. She could practically hear Cancer crying out because she wasn't washing the salt out right away and she'd probably get dandruff or something. If there was one thing that spirit was passionate about, it was hair.

Then again all spirits had their obsessions. Taurus for instance had a blatant fixation on boobs, though Lucy once heard him call them udders. Lyra barely acknowledged anyone who didn't have a nice voice, Horologium somewhat predictably adored grandfather clocks, Crux had a library of historical fiction that he loved to edit and correct, and Aquarius collected pottery though it was mostly jars and urns.

It took about ten minutes for her to tease all the knots out of her hair. As it turned out getting tossed around in the ocean was really bad for the silky strands. Her hair was still damp, but she pulled half of it up into her usual side ponytail regardless. It made her feel a bit more prepared.

When she left the restroom, she half expected to wait around for a few minutes, if not all night. To her surprise, however, the two males suddenly sprang out from the bushes, making her cry out in shock. She was quickly shushed by Natsu.

"You're going to get us chased again."

"She's really noisy, Natsu."

"Anyone would be if you jumped out like that!"

Natsu laughed off her comment before waving at her to follow him. "Anyway, come on! You took forever in there." With that he started on the path out of the park.

There was a brief silence before her nervousness got the better of her and Lucy spoke up.

"Did you mean it? About joining Fairy Tail?"

The two of them glanced back in confusion. "Why wouldn't we mean it?"

"You wanted to join didn't you?" Happy looked up at her with wide innocent eyes. "Did you lie?"

"What? No! Of course not! Just…" She wasn't the strongest Lucy, physically or magic wise. More than that, she'd fallen for a fairly obvious trick not even two hours ago. "Would your master accept someone like me?"

She glanced shyly up at Natsu and found him looking at her, observing her with a serious look on his face.

Suddenly he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry. You have the kind of assets the old man will like for sure!"

"Really?" He knew that just by looking at her? That was amazing!

"Absolutely!"

They lapsed into another silence until Lucy noticed that they were leaving Hargeon and bypassing the train station.

"Fairy Tail's in Magnolia right? Aren't we going to take the train?" That was the quickest way to get to the other town.

Natsu gave a small shudder. "No way, we're walking."

"Eh?!" What was a couple hours away by train was over a day's worth of walking. She supposed it made sense though, the guards would likely be waiting for them at the station. Still, she wasn't looking forward to walking so much; all she really wanted to do was sleep.

Happy giggled. "Natsu gets motion sick."

"Even on a train?"

"Anything that moves!"

"I suppose carriages and cars are out too, then."

Natsu stumbled and gagged, his skin was noticeably greener than before. "Shut up," he whined, "stop talking about those things."

"Even just talking about it makes you sick?"

Happy cheerfully agreed. "Aye!"


	22. Chapter 22

It took two days to reach Magnolia. It likely would have taken a little less, however Lucy convinced the other two to stay the night at a rest stop not far from the outskirts of the town. The lukewarm shower and hard, lumpy bed were heaven to her dirty and slightly sleep deprived body.

That wasn't to say they pushed themselves or sacrificed sleep to make good time. The pace they set was downright leisurely. However ever since her first, completely disastrous, time camping out in the wilderness she'd had difficulty sleeping outdoors. The only reason she'd gotten any sleep was Natsu's constant loud snores reminding her that she wasn't alone. It also helped that he actually knew what he was doing when it came to camping.

Lucy couldn't say that they'd gotten to know each other in those two days. It wasn't really filled with all that much talk; well Natsu and Happy had no issues talking with each other, Lucy was more focused on not tripping in her exhausted state. She did learn Happy's favorite food, not that it was difficult to discover, the cat insisted on stopping at every decently sized body of water to check for fish. A part of her thought that Natsu was a bit frustrated with her, considering how little skill she had in walking on the road for long stretches and camping. It was probably just her imagination though.

Regardless it was a freshly rested and relatively clean Lucy who entered Magnolia for the first time. She was completely awestruck. It was without a doubt the largest town she'd ever been in. It was also the most beautiful. The buildings were clean and most of them had baskets filled with flowers of some sort hanging off the eves. There was a wide central road leading to a grand and elegant cathedral. Once the trio passed it, she saw that the wide road continued on, past a wide channel, to a large orange roofed building sitting in the distance.

Natsu and Happy got excited when the building first came into view and as they got closer, Lucy could understand why. Fairy Tail's guild hall was literally at the end of the road. From its bright orange-red roof topped with what looked like an onion to its expertly carved and detailed spade shaped front door; it was a grand sight.

"It's huge!" She gaped. Lucy wanted to squeal over everything. The curly heart design on the shudders, the tailed fairies on the sign, even the flag proudly bearing the guild mark. She fell in love with it all.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail." Happy chirped, bringing her attention back to her traveling companions. They were both waiting for her to gather herself.

Upon entering she was nearly drowned the noises of people talking and laughing, the sounds of cutlery banning around and the shouts for more food and alcohol. She caught sight of a familiar face and saw Mirajane serving several men, being flirted with and easily rebuffing the advances with some transformation magic.

Not even Natsu's exuberant shouting could distract Lucy from her awe. Even when he slammed his foot into someone's face she could only feel excitement. She hadn't known what to expect or how the guild would act. A large part of her had thought that it'd be much like how she and the other Lucys had been back at the manor. Polite, and cooperative but ultimately sticking to their own space unless necessity and convenience forced them to interact. Even meeting with Natsu didn't really change her expectations; he could have just been the only one like that. However seeing all those people descend into what looked like a good natured brawl was strangely thrilling.

"I really did it…I came to Fairy Tail." She drifted inside, staying out of the way from the, thankfully, magicless fight.

Suddenly a mostly naked man appeared beside her and shocked her right out of her state of euphoric awe.

Where were his clothes? Not to say that she didn't appreciate his bare chest; it displayed his guild mark beautifully. However that didn't explain why he was only wearing boxers. He was also shouting for Natsu in order to fight him. She wasn't sure what to think of that.

Then a brunette not far from the two of them spoke up and things quickly descended into madness.

Lucy hadn't known it was possible for someone to drink their own body weight in alcohol in only a few minutes but apparently she'd been wrong. She knew magic allowed for mages to push their bodies in ways a non-magical person could only dream of, but she'd assumed there were limits. Coupled with a giant of a man making speeches about manliness joining the ever-growing brawl and quickly losing, Sorcerer's Weekly's number one bachelor Loke being a complete playboy, and Mirajane actually talking to her before nearly getting knocked out by a flying bottle; Lucy was beginning to wonder if she was insane enough to actually join.

The, now completely naked, man crashing next to her and asking Lucy for her underwear was just overkill at this point. Of all the scenarios she'd come up with for her introduction to the guild, freaking out and punching a naked man in the face wasn't one of them. Besides, what did he expect? If she let him have any of her underwear, it wouldn't fit and even if it did he would end up stretching it beyond repair. There was no way she'd do that for a strange man, even if he was her, hopefully, future comrade.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Lucy found herself being picked up and carried off. However, in her state of shock, Loke's elegant and flattering words went in one ear and out the other. He was quickly forced to drop her when Natsu beaned him on the head with a chair. Natsu let out a happy shout from his success at hitting his target. The sudden drop cleared her head a bit and she quickly scrambled away from the disaster zone that was once the middle of the guild.

Things abruptly got tense when the alcoholic brought out some clearly magical cards, prompting everyone else to start casting their own magic. Considering the kind of damage Natsu had been able to do to Hargeon port and the fact that everyone else seemed to be just as reckless and destructive, Lucy had to wonder if there'd be a Fairy Tail left for her to join. Even Mirajane seemed concerned.

Until an authoritative voice ran out. "That's enough." An actual giant appeared in the middle of the brawl. His head brushed against the high ceiling and Lucy had to wonder how in the world she missed seeing him before. He was so big he blocked out the light and she couldn't make out any of his features. "Cut it out you fools!"

Everyone froze.

"My…" Mirajane was still calm even when faced with this terrifying person, "you were here too, master?"

"Master!" Lucy hadn't thought the giant could be any more intimidating. She was wrong. It made sense, considering he easily stopped the fight with just a few words and his impressive size.

Well, almost. Natsu apparently wasn't intimidated at all by the presence of the guild master and immediately started boasting about it. Until he was squished by the giant's foot.

"Oh," with a jolt Lucy realized that the giant had noticed her. "A new-comer?"

"Y-yes." She felt small under his analyzing gaze. The only time she'd ever felt smaller was after she'd failed one of Lord Heartfilia's tests and it'd looked like he was debating whether or not to cut his losses and just dispose of her then and there.

The master's magic surged and she couldn't quite keep herself from shaking. Without warning his body shrank. In less than a minute he'd shrunk to about the height of her knees. Lucy was once again left gaping, this time at the massive size difference and the shear amount of magic it had to have taken for the mustached man to reach the height he had been before.

He waved casually at her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Makarov."

Lucy didn't have the time to answer before he was back flipping all the way to the upper floor. He didn't quite make it past the railing, but it didn't seem to matter. He then started to berate several members, most if not all of them were the main fighters in the brawl Lucy had just witnessed. She discovered the names of several people, though she couldn't say that the other things she found about them were all that surprising.

The naked man, Gray, had a stripping problem. The manly man, Elfman, was a bit violent when it came to defending what he thought was manly. She found that the alcoholic's name was Cana and that Loke really was a huge flirt. What was really the most surprising thing was the size of the list of things that Natsu destroyed. Though considering what he did in Hargeon, Lucy really shouldn't have been all that surprised. Even less so with the knowledge that he was behind what happened to the Devon thief family.

Makarov then listed off several more people, though not the things they'd done, before somehow turning the lecture into one of the most inspirational speeches Lucy had ever heard. It ended with everyone cheering.

It wasn't long before everyone had recovered, the tables were straitened, the chairs patched up and Natsu was placated with foods that were on fire. Mirajane led Lucy to a quieter counter in the back so that she could get her guild mark.

Despite Lucy's earlier misgivings, she figured she was just insane enough for the rowdy guild. At least, so long as she was a member, Lucy didn't think she'd ever be bored.


	23. Chapter 23

When it came to where her mark would be placed, the choice wasn't easy. She ended up going with the first place that came to mind; the back of her right hand. Choosing the color, however, was easier than she'd thought it'd be. She recalled that Miss Layla wore a lot of pink, that it looked good on her, therefore it'd look good on Lucy as well.

With that thought, and a flash of light, the back of Lucy's hand now bore proof of her affiliation. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered what the others would think, if they ever found out she'd joined a guild.

She never thought she'd be so happy! She needed to tell someone, to have them be as excited as she was! Considering the only ones she really knew where Natsu and Happy, she went to them first. Unfortunately they weren't nearly as enthusiastic as she was. They even got her name wrong. She couldn't tell if they were joking or not.

She supposed it made sense. Now that she was at the guild there was really no reason for them to hang out together anymore. Still, the idea was kind of saddening. Natsu was loud, messy, violent and far too attention grabbing for her own good while Happy always seemed to know how to get under her skin. However in the last three days the two of them made her laugh more than she ever had in her life before.

There wasn't any point in hanging about where she wasn't wanted, so she went to the bar to talk to Mirajane about housing options. Considering she didn't have a lot of money, Lucy figured her best bet would be to take a quick and easy job. However, she wanted Horologium on hand just in case she needed him. She figured the model would know where a good, cheap place to store some of her things was.

The white haired woman served her a drink with a smile before the two started chatting. However, before Mirajane could comment or offer suggestions a childish voice interrupted them.

"Please look for him!" A dark haired child half shouted at the guild master, "I'm worried about him!"

"No way!" Makarov snapped, surprisingly coldly. "Your dad's a mage, we have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and…drink your milk or something."

Lucy could only watch as the child punched the master in the face before running off. "Is he always so strict?" Compared to his jovial attitude earlier, it was a complete turnaround.

"Master can be like that, but he's worried about Macao, too."

Before anything more could be said, a loud thud sounded from past the end of the bar. Lucy looked up just in time to see Natsu stalking away. A tall man with a grass skirt and rodent skull accessories called after him, berating Natsu for breaking the board.

The usually loud rosette didn't say a word as he grabbed his pack and left the guild.

"Eh, what was that about?" Lucy muttered.

"I bet he's going to go help Macao," someone grumbled.

"Stupid kid…"

"If he does that," the man at the request board started, "it'll only hurt Macao's pride."

Master Makarov bit down on the stem of a pipe. "No one can decide what he should do. Just leave him alone."

Lucy could only stare at the door the fire mage had disappeared behind. "What was that about? Acting like that all of a sudden…"

She hadn't really expected an answer, so it was a bit surprising when Mirajane softly spoke up. "The same thing happened to Natsu. Maybe he saw a little of himself in Romeo." She wiped down some bottles of liqueur, her back facing Lucy though the brunette still heard her. "Natsu's father hasn't come back ever since he left. Though by father I mean foster parent. He's a dragon, you see." She then turned and smiled at Lucy.

The newly minted guild mage nearly fell off her seat in shock. "A dragon? Natsu was raised by a dragon?" It was a bit hard to believe, but it explained so much. "That's a little…" She had to wonder if the Igneel Natsu was looking for was the same dragon that raised him. Mirajane's next words confirmed that thought.

"He was found by that dragon when he was little. He learned words, cultures and magic from him. But one day the dragon disappeared."

"I see… So that was Igneel."

"Natsu is…looking forward to seeing Igneel one day." She leaned forward, smiling slyly. "Isn't he cute?"

Lucy could only laugh nervously. It was more admirable and heart breaking than cute.

The older woman gently placed another glass on the counter, "we are…" She murmured.

"Heh?"

"Mages of Fairy Tail are all carrying something. Wounds, pain, suffering…" She started to tremble and said something in a voice too quiet for Lucy to hear.

"Mirajane?"

"No," she looked up at the younger mage, her face once more smiling as if nothing was wrong. "Nothing."

However, now that she was looking, Lucy could see how brittle that mask was. Something had hurt the friendly bartender, though Lucy didn't know what. Considering how easily her concerned question was denied, Lucy didn't think asking about it directly would do any good. Not that she was in a good position to ask something so personal; they'd only met a couple hours ago after all.

Her concern must have been still too obvious because Mirajane quickly shook off that brittle smile and replaced it with a more genuine one. "Well, anyway, given what's happened, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Natsu tends to be a bit impulsive, especially with regards to things that hit a little too close to his heart, would you mind going along and keeping an eye on him?"

"Are you sure I'm the best one for that? I don't know him all that well…" Besides, if it ended up being a search and rescue mission then time would be a crucial thing in that case and she'd only slow him down. "Besides, he's probably already too far away for me to catch up to."

"Oh no, if I know Natsu he'll be determined to run all the way to Mt. Hakobe. A carriage should catch up to him easily. Anyway," she winked at Lucy, "I have a good feeling about you and Natsu partnering up."

"Well…" She bit her lip in thought, however Mirajane was looking at her with such big blue eyes full of hope that Lucy really couldn't bring herself to say no. "Is there a place I can store some things? Just temporarily. If I'm going to go and help out, I'd rather do it with everything I've got."

Mirajane beamed.


	24. Chapter 24

Lucy still wasn't quite sure just how she'd managed to convince Natsu to actually get into the carriage. But somehow the fire mage wound up sprawled out on the bench opposite of her. He was pale, shaky and groaning, but at least he wasn't throwing up everywhere. She didn't think she could afford the driver's cleaning bill.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lucy couldn't help but gush over how cool, kind and pretty Mirajane was to the uninterested Happy and the comatose Natsu.

"…And next time, I really hope we can hang out outside Fairy Tail… Maybe I could even visit her house or something!"

"You really do talk a lot," Happy deadpanned. "Just don't steal underwear and stuff, okay?"

"Why would anyone do something like that?" She nearly shrieked.

"Why are you here anyway, Lucy?"

"Didn't I just say? Mirajane asked me to. Does it bother you?"

"Aye, of course."

That was a shockingly mean response said with such a straight face. Lucy brushed it aside though. "Besides, you and Natsu helped me join Fairy Tail, it's the least I can do for something like that."

"Hrmm…" Happy gave her a considering look.

Lucy changed her focus to the still not well looking Natsu. "He really isn't good at transportation, is he?"

"Aye."

"Has he tried eating ginger before getting onto things?"

"Aye, and during. It just makes a mess."

"Peppermint?"

"Aye."

"Black horehound?"

"Aye."

"Drinking chamomile tea or eating licorice root?"

"Aye, chamomile makes him sneeze too."

"Dry crackers and a fizzy drink?"

"That's the worst one."

"Most of those combined?"

"Aye," Happy sighed. "I think Natsu's tried everything back when this first started."

"When was that?"

"Hm…Four years ago? I was really little then."

"Ah… I take it you've tried pills and other medicines too."

"Aye."

Lucy wracked her brain to figure out something that could help the Dragon Slayer. Unfortunately the only things she could think of where things they'd probably already tried. "Sorry, I can't help."

"It's okay, we're used to it."

She didn't think anyone could get used to being that sick when on something as common as transportation. However, thinking about motion sickness while watching Natsu was making her nauseas; so she quickly focused on Happy and changed the subject. "I'll still need to find a place to live once we get back." She'd need to get more money too. Considering this thing with Macao was probably going to take the entire rest of the day, she'd be too tired to go on an actual job when they got back. She'd have to shell out her remaining meager funds for a hotel and get some paying work tomorrow.

"You can stay with us."

His attitude had just gone from too cold to too warm, she thought, shocked. As sweet as the offer was, she couldn't imagine what their house would be like. "I think that'd be a bad idea." She gently said.

"It stopped!" Natsu abruptly cried out, springing to his feet and rushing for the door.

"We're there?" Lucy had somehow missed when the rocking of the carriage stopped. She flinched as soon as Natsu flung the doors open, cold air billowed in and bit at her exposed legs and arms. She hadn't realized just how much the fire mage could heat up an enclosed space, even when he'd been far too sick to actually use any magic.

"I'm sorry," the driver shouted out above the howling winds, "we can't go any farther than this with the carriage."

"What's going on?" She cried out, "even though we're up in the mountains, it's still summer! Why is there a snowstorm?" Mirajane could have warned her about this. Not that it would have helped, the warmest things she had were her sleepwear, even then they were as thin as tissue paper.

Natsu on the other hand wasn't effected at all.

"It's cold!" Lucy couldn't help but whine. She'd never felt so cold before. Already she couldn't feel her toes, and they'd just gotten out of the carriage.

"That's cause you're wearing so little." Natsu pointed out.

Which was true, a tank top and short skirt weren't good things to wear during a snowstorm. However she didn't want to hear it from someone wearing an open vest, sandals and capris regardless if he was a fire mage or not. "So are you!" The only thing weather appropriate he had on was his white scarf.

"Well, I'm heading back!" The driver informed them before turning around and leaving for the nearest town. "Good luck!"

"Wait!" She cried out, trying to chase after it. "How are we supposed to get back?"

She thought she heard both Natsu and Happy say something, but whatever they were talking about was lost to the wind. The trio were soon left alone on the mountain side. Lucy was really regretting listening to Mirajane.

"Hey, can I borrow your blanket?" Lucy tugged at the thick, likely warm, rolled up blanket nestled in Natsu's pack.

"No way. It's mine." He emphasized the last word strongly. She didn't understand why, Lucy already figured it wasn't anyone else's. However it was too cold to think about anything other than getting warm.

She tried to take it out regardless. Natsu batted her hands away with a small growl.

With a shivering sigh and a wavering voice she summoned her faithful clock, chanting the words to open his gate without even thinking about doing so.

The large pendulum clock spirit appeared with a poof of smoke and posed, trying to impress Lucy's new guild mates. Both the fire dragon slayer and the blue cat looked amazed, but Lucy could only really appreciate the warmth of Horologium's interior. She sighed in relief as the glass door closed and the warmth of his insides soaked into her frozen skin.

"Thanks Horologium." She murmured, patting the wood at one of his sides.

He hummed in response. The sound vibrating soothingly throughout his hollow chamber. She figured he was happy that she was using him for his intended purpose. He was never happy with being used for storage. While she knew she couldn't stay in him forever, her magic wasn't strong enough, she'd savor what little time she had.

She raised her voice, letting him know that she wanted the ones outside to hear what she was saying. "I'll stay in here."

Natsu spoke, though she couldn't hear him. Horologium had to provide his voice. "What did she come here for, he says."

"Mirajane asked me to help." He apparently hadn't listened to her talking earlier, which made sense, considering how sick he'd seemed. "Anyway, what kind of job did Mr. Macao come here for?"

Natsu looked incredulous. "You came here without knowing that? He came to fight Vulcans. He says."

She squeaked as she recalled just what kind of creatures Vulcans were. "I want to go home." Never mind that she didn't have a home to go back to at the moment.

"Yes, go ahead says I. He says." Horologium murmured into her ear, as Natsu and Happy walked away. He paused for a moment before adding, what could only be something Happy would say, "Aye. He says."

"That's probably going to get confusing." She muttered to her clock. She received another hum in agreement before her spirit started waddling after the two.

"Your male friend is currently calling out for his missing comrade." Because neither of the ones outside Horologium were talking to her, the spirit felt no need to parrot what exactly was said. Even if he hadn't told her that, she could see Natsu shouting, though she couldn't hear him. "I have 50 minutes left before I must leave."

"Thanks."

Natsu suddenly dodged back as a large white monkey creature landed before him and attacked.

"It's a Vulcan! The cat says."

She couldn't get a good look at it before it vaulted past Natsu. Suddenly she got too good of a look at it since it pressed its face right into Horologium's glass. It had a long face, made even longer by its pointed chin and spike of hair. It licked the glass, as if trying to taste her. Despite knowing that nothing could get into Horologium without his say so, Lucy still cried out and cringed behind his pendulum.

"A human woman! He says." While her spirit faithfully parroted the Vulcan's words and tone, he couldn't hide the disgust in his voice when he finished quoting the perverted creature. Dimly, Lucy recalled that there were no female Vulcans, that the only way they could reproduce was by finding and raping females of various species. Most commonly human woman.

She screamed as the creature picked her up, though only Horologium could hear her. He offered her quiet words of comfort and encouragement as the beast bounded and jostled them on the way to his lair.

However her spirit could only protect her for so long. After he went back, she'd be vulnerable to the Vulcans grabby hands.


	25. Chapter 25

Lucy could only watch in horror as the ape like Vulcan did a weird hyper dance around Horologium. She didn't know what it was supposed to be, but she had a feeling her spirit did. He was covering his eyes and muttering about how scandalous it all was.

The Vulcan had brought her to a cave, though she didn't know how far they'd gone from Natsu and Happy. From her limited point of view from inside Horologium, she could see that the walls and floor were covered in ice. Light entered through various window like holes that dotted the walls. If it wasn't ice covered and inhabited by a Vulcan, Lucy thought it'd make a rather nice dwelling. Regrettably that wasn't the case and Lucy would rather be anywhere but where she was.

All too soon she had less than a minute left to brace herself for a fight against both the Vulcan and the cold. While she could ask for an extension on his time, it wouldn't do her any good. She'd need all the energy she could get to summon Taurus and to fight the Vulcan. She could only hope that Natsu would find them quickly as well. Even if she could beat a Vulcan by herself, which was doubtful, she didn't want to be alone with him any longer than she had to be.

Suddenly, once more, the narrow monkey face was pushed against Horologium's glass. "Woman," her spirit cooed, "he said." The disgust in his voice was only matched by his worry as he then continued to speak. "Thirty seconds before my time is up."

"Okay." Her voice sounded small, but she prepared herself as best she could. Her left hand grabbed the whip at her side while her right clutched the key to her strongest fighting spirit. Lucy couldn't do much else to get ready. When Horologium left she'd drop down a little and the inside of his body was too small to get into a good position regardless. Soon she could do nothing as Horologium softly counted down.

Whatever that dance from before was, it seemed to have used up all of the Vulcan's excess energy, he was now content with standing in front of Horologium's door. His intense stare gave her goosebumps and she felt like a piece of meat waiting to be devoured.

As soon as Horologium reached one second before leaving she tensed. She threw herself to the side the very moment she felt the biting cold of the cave, clumsily rolling away from the monkey monster's grabbing hands. She turned to face him as quickly as she could, however it wasn't quick enough.

The Vulcan was suddenly right in front of her, grinning in what could only be describe as a perverted manor. He was too close. She could smell his foul breath and she could practically feel the heat his body was giving off.

She scrambled back, brandishing Taurus's key, which glowed hotly in her numb fingers. Her voice was shaky, from both fear and the cold that permeated everywhere. "I-I am la-lin-linked t-to-"

A shout interrupted her sorry attempt at summoning. "I finally caught up with you!"

She glanced at where the familiar voice echoed from. "Natsu," she breathed. The Vulcan was still far too close to her, but she felt a little safer with the dragon slayer nearby.

"Where is Macao?" He charged boldly into the icy cavern, only to slip and roll into a wall, crashing into it upside down. It would have been comical in any other circumstance. His actions served to distract the Vulcan and Lucy took the opportunity to back away from the monster.

"Hey! Monkey!" A glance told her he hadn't bothered to get up from his inverted position. His entire focus was on the Vulcan. "Where is Macao?"

The Vulcan grunted in confusion and Lucy began shuffling closer to Natsu.

"You understand what I'm saying right? I'm talking about Macao!" Natsu kept talking to the Vulcan, but given the blank look the monster was giving Natsu, Lucy wasn't too sure he'd understood what the rosette was talking about. How would he know the name of a mage? "A human man," Natsu tacked on, as if reading her thoughts.

That got a reaction. "A man?"

"That's right!" Natsu pointed dramatically at the ape. "Where did you hide him?"

Lucy twitched in shock. That was quite an assumption for him to make. Why would a Vulcan be interested in a man? Just because the beast kidnapped Lucy didn't mean he did the same to Mr. Macao. However, the usual diet of a Vulcan suddenly popped into her head. What if Mr. Macao was already dead? What if they were too late? What would happen to his son, Romeo, if that was the case?

The Vulcan was gesturing Natsu to get closer to him, to follow him as he walked towards one of the natural windows.

"Ooh! He understood me!"

"Wa-wait! Natsu, I don't think-"

However, Natsu wasn't listening to her and he eagerly looked out the window to where the Vulcan was pointing.

With a swift motion, too quick for her to react to, the Vulcan shoved Natsu out the window.

"Natsu!" She cried out, rushing to another window, hoping beyond hope that the cave wasn't too far up the mountain.

"Me…No likes man." The guttural voice of the Vulcan cut through the cold air. "Me…Likes woman!"

Lucy's breath left her lungs at the drop before her. Even without the rushing winds and billowing snow, she doubted she'd be able to see the bottom of the abyss Natsu had just been thrown into. "No," she gasped out, "he…he's not dead…he can't be, he…he's really strong and a great mage…I…I'm sure he's fi…" She couldn't bring herself to even finish that word. Halfhearted self-reassurances wouldn't do anything for the fire mage.

Was it possible to survive a drop like that? Even if he did, would he be hurt? Trapped at the bottom of the cliff without any way of getting out of there? Even if he couldn't freeze, Natsu could still starve.

The Vulcan, meanwhile was dancing and singing about his dislike of men and his love of woman.

Was it possible to feel so numb and yet be so angry at the same time? She had felt something similar not too long ago, when Bora tossed her keys into the ocean. How dare that flea bitten monkey try to kill Natsu? He wasn't like her, Natsu wasn't replaceable. There wasn't anywhere she could go to and grab another fire dragon slayer. Neither was Mr. Macao. If this Vulcan had killed them both then…

"Woman," he sang, "Woman."

"Shut up you…You pervert!" Those words were feeble and not nearly the one's she wanted to say. However, they were all she could think of with her blood pounding in her ears, cold freezing her fingers and anger simmering in her heart. "I won't let you get away with this!" She brandished Taurus's key like a weapon, "I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"

With a rush of displaced air and snow, a brilliant light and the sound of a doorbell ringing, a giant bull man appeared. His skin was tight on his body, showing off his well-muscled form, only helped by his lack of any clothing other than some briefs, gloves and boots. His skin was white with black splotches, much like the common Holstein, and he had the head and tail of a bull. On his back was his weapon of choice, a deadly and dangerous looking axe that was larger than Lucy was tall. He was a true Minotaur, ready and raring for battle.

"A bull?" The Vulcan grunted, looking confused.

"Not just any bull. He's the strongest person I know, and he's going to kick your ass you perverted monkey!"

"Miss Loo-ucy! You have nice booobs as always. There moo-re amazing than ever." He lowed out, leering at her chest.

With a sigh Lucy buried her face into her now freed hand. "Taurus," she gritted out, "now's not the time." Despite her words, a small part of her appreciated what he was trying to do. If the circumstances were less dire, she would have relaxed a bit more at his usual antics. At the moment, though, it was more annoying than anything else.

"Uho!" The Vulcan cried out, "don't take my woman!"

"My woman?" Her bull froze at that. "That's a moo-st unforgiveable remark." He growled out, stalking towards the monkey.

"That's right, you tell him!"

"You should say 'my boobs' instead." He deadpanned, surprisingly without mooing at all. There were so many things wrong with that statement, she didn't even know where to begin.

"Taurus!" She'd used Horologium to his limit earlier and between the cold, stress and lack of time since then, she hadn't recovered much magic at all. She didn't have time to yell at or otherwise scold Taurus about his behavior and they both knew it.

A slight shift in his stance let her know he was ready to take things seriously. It'd have to be quick and it'd probably be brutal, but they needed to end this soon.

"Go!"

With that word from her, he charged forward, swiftly and smoothly drawing his axe. "I'm moo-re than ready!"

The Vulcan prepared itself, bracing to meet the charging bull.

A sudden, achingly familiar voice rang out in the cave, freezing all three of them. "Hoow daare yooou puuush me oooof the cliiif!" The voice was purposely shaky and clearly trying too hard to be spooky. Soon the silhouette of a large figure appeared in the window. Happy's childish ghost voice impersonation continued. "Iiit waaaas clooose."

"Happy?" Lucy breathed, abruptly realizing she'd forgotten about the little blue cat in all the excitement. She then recognized the figure floating in the window. "Natsu! You're safe!"

"Hrm?" The rosette noticed the scene in front of him, coming out of some sort of stupor. "What! There's more monsters now?" Before Lucy could react, he lunged forward and kicked Taurus hard on the chin.

"No! Wait!" She cried out too late. Her big burly bull flew through the air and crashed not far from Lucy.

"…Can't take no moo-re," he mumbled, dazed. He hadn't been hit hard enough to unsummon him, but he was now out of the fight. This was bad; she couldn't unsummon him until he woke up. He'd keep draining her magic until she was depleted; thankfully he'd go back automatically at that point however it'd leave her in a very bad spot health wise.

Considering he was both unconscious and still in Earthland, Lucy wasn't sure what that said more about his strength or Natsu's.

"He was on our side!" She snapped. Just because she was glad Natsu was still alive, didn't mean she wasn't upset that he took out her dear friend. "How'd you manage to get up here so fast?"

Natsu turned to her with a grin, pointing up. "Happy did it!"

"Aye!" The flying blue cat called out, "you're welcome."

"Oh yeah, I forgot he could fly." She muttered. Wow, she'd forgotten a lot of things where Happy was concerned.

"Aye, with Aera."

"And you're not sick? You were acting kind of out of it when you came up."

"What? No. I fell asleep on the way up. Why would I be sick anyway? Happy isn't transportation. He's a comrade." He gave her a narrow eyed look and scooted away from her. "Weirdo."

"Ah, right, sorry." It made sense she supposed, but how was she a weirdo?

The fire mage turned more fully to face her. "Listen, all of Fairy Tail's members are comrades," he started to lecture, completely ignorant of how the Vulcan came out of its stupor and began to charge at his back.

Lucy could only make wordless noises of alarm and point behind him at the approaching threat. Natsu, however, didn't seem to notice at all as he continued. "From the old man, Mira, that annoying Gray and Elfman…"

"Got it! Just watch out behind you!"

Natsu ignored her. "To Happy and Lucy. We're all comrades." His words were touching and would have been quite inspirational, if he wasn't being rushed at by an angry intelligent ape intent on ripping him to pieces. "That's why…" he continued, abruptly turning to face the Vulcan, "I'm taking Macao home!" He ended with a cry, kicking the monster in the chin with a flaming foot. Making the Vulcan fly over both his and Lucy's heads.

She cringed away from the monkey's fallen form as Natsu moved to a more battle ready position.

"Tell me where Macao is," he called out, his voice full of an enviable confidence, "or I'll burn you like charcoal."

The Vulcan recovered quickly, steam practically shooting out from his nose in rage. However, he didn't attack thoughtlessly. Rather he reached up and snagged one of the many impressively sized icicles that hung from the cave's ceiling. Rapidly he threw it and several others at the fire mage, who laughed off the attack, melting the sharp ice as it approached.

Natsu stopped laughing when the Vulcan picked up Taurus's axe though. What followed was one of the most impressive displays of dodging Lucy had ever seen. She could only gape as Natsu wove around the wild swings. At least until he slipped on the water leftover from the icicles. Lucy winced at the loud thud that rang out from his sudden and harsh landing.

Unfortunately he couldn't recover in time to get out of the way of the large, sharp and heavy axe that was rushing right at his face. Lucy's heart lodged in her throat as the bladed weapon neared her downed comrade.

With a sharp clap, he caught the blade between his hands, something Lucy had thought was impossible considering the axe's size and weight. Even more so with regards to his awkward positioning as he had to lean back significantly to keep the axe from touching him. She rushed over to Taurus and quickly set about trying to revive him.

"Taurus! Taurus! Wake up! If you go back, the axe will too!" In the back of her mind, she wondered if she shouldn't hang around Natsu in the future. She hadn't even known him for a week, yet she thought he'd been killed at least three times already. Her heart couldn't handle something like that on a regular basis. Lucy could only hope that no one else in Fairy Tail was as danger prone as he was.

A sizzling sound drew her attention away from Taurus and back to the stalemate between Natsu and the Vulcan. Steam was billowing off of the Dragon Slayer's hands and the axe was starting to glow red.

Lucy could only watch with awe and a little horror as a bead of melted metal fell from the blade and into Natsu's waiting mouth. Her thoughts split into two directions at once; swinging rapidly between shock that Natsu had melted the blade and was currently chewing on molten metal, and concern for her spirit's favorite weapon. She wasn't too knowledgeable about blades or metal in general but she was fairly certain that being heated up to the point of melting wasn't good for any kind of weapon. She could only hope it'd bit easily fixed or Taurus would be devastated.

Natsu spat the bead of metal out like a bullet, hitting the Vulcan right in the forehead and distracting him enough to shift the axe aside. A slightly hysterical thought popped into Lucy's head at that moment, wondering how long it took him to get that sort of accuracy when spitting.

She shook that thought away as Natsu readied himself for his next attack.

"Here I come," he growled out, darting forward with a flaming hand. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted, punching the Vulcan and sending it crashing into one of the smaller windows. Unfortunately, the window was too small for his body to go flying out of. Lucy thought that would have been a nice little bit of karma.

Considering the force behind one of his kicks, as Taurus was still unconscious, that Vulcan had to be down for the count.

"He's stuck!" Happy cheered.

As glad as she was that the whole fight was over, the Vulcan wasn't why the three of them were there. "Weren't you going to ask where Mr. Macao is?"

Natsu yelped in shock, "I forgot!"

She peered closely at the Vulcan, though she was reluctant to get any closer to it than she already was. His eyes were rolled back and he wasn't moving. "He's completely passed out." She sighed, letting her thoughts wonder a bit now that the danger had passed. Natsu wasn't that much bigger than she was, at least height wise; how could he be so much stronger than others twice his size with three times his muscle mass?

Another, more startled, shout from Natsu brought her attention back to the now glowing Vulcan. Lucy watched in shock when, with a puff of smoke and a flash of light, the Vulcan suddenly turned into a beaten and bloody man.

"The monkey became Macao?" Natsu yelled, sounding to be in just as much shock as she was.

"Eh?" That man was Mr. Macao?

"Oh," Happy started, "so he was taken over by the Vulcan!"

"Taken over?" The term sounded familiar, and she thought it was a term regarding some type of magic, however given her strict magical education, Lucy couldn't place it.

Thankfully Happy didn't seem to mind explaining. "It's a magic to take over the body; Takeover magic."

Unfortunately, while the Vulcan had been too big to go through the window, Mr. Macao wasn't. More than that, his center of gravity was too high for him to fall on the safe side of the window. All at once everyone dashed forward to try and catch him.

Natsu reached the man first, but he hadn't been quick enough to keep Mr. Macao from falling out. That, however, didn't stop Natsu from diving out right after him. Thankfully Happy was right on his tail and Lucy got to the opening just in time to see him struggling to hold Natsu by the leg who was grabbing onto Mr. Macao, also by the leg.

"I can't keep holding onto the two of you," the normally cheerful cat gritted out. "My wings are about to disappear too!"

Lucy lunged out and grabbed Happy by his tail. She thought she heard Natsu shout again, but all her focus was on trying to pull them up. However, even with Happy rapidly flapping his wings to try and gain some lift, it was all she could do to keep from either letting go or tipping over to join them in falling.

A warm presence appeared at her back and gloved hands wrapped around her own. A familiar voice mooed into her ear. "No moo-re worry."

She turned to face her now awake spirit. "Taurus!" With a grin her physically strongest spirit easily pulled the other three up and back into the cave.

Natsu and Happy quickly went to work, setting out Natsu's blanket for Mr. Macao to lay on and digging out their medical supplies. Lucy, though, had to sit down and catch her breath. Her magic was nearly gone.

She watched Taurus grab his axe and inspect it with a frown. However, he didn't look too worried about it. He noticed her look and gave a quick thumbs up.

"It'll fix itself back hoo-me. Don't woo-rry Miss Loo-ucy." He glanced back at the pink haired dragon slayer, before going home. Lucy would swear that it looked like Taurus had recognized Natsu. Probably as the guy who'd just kicked him in the face.

Lucy forced herself to her feet and joined the others in patching up their now found comrade.

"It seems he fought a lot before he was taken over." Happy muttered, digging through their supplies for something. Probably a needle and thread, Lucy thought, eyeing the large, deep and still bleeding gash on Mr. Macao's side.

"That wound is really serious." It felt a little pointless to say it, but Lucy felt she should say something.

"Hold on Macao!" Natsu cried.

She bit her lip as even more blood leaked out from that wound. She didn't know how he looked when healthy, but Lucy thought he was too pale.

"The wound on his side is too deep." To her inexperienced eye, it didn't look like any organs were damaged but that wouldn't matter if he kept bleeding. "We can't do anything with the supplies we have."

Natsu looked grim but oddly determined. She didn't have long to figure out why before he lit his hand on fire and pressed it to the wound.

"What are you doing?" She cried out around Mr. Macao's screams.

"This is all we can do for now! Live with it, Macao!" Despite the thrashing of the older man, he kept his hot hand pressed against the other man's body. "Lucy! Hold him down!"

Lucy did as he ordered and though she wasn't really strong enough to keep Mr. Macao from moving, she did keep him still enough for Natsu to finish cauterizing the wound. She fought back against the bile that lumped in her throat at the smell of burning flesh.

"Don't die!" Natsu snapped, his voice carried over the screams and the sound of sizzling flesh. "Don't die! Romeo's waiting for you!"

It felt like forever before it was over. Both Mr. Macao and Natsu were left as panting and shaking messes. Lucy realized that, though he was rowdy and seemingly careless with his fire, this was the first time Natsu had actually burned someone. All the other flame filled strikes she'd seen, from that fight in Hargeon to just now, had left bruises and maybe broken bones but absolutely no burn marks.

She didn't have long to contemplate that epiphany, Mr. Macao had recovered enough to start trying to talk. "Shit," he panted out, "what a shame." He took a brief moment to recover his breath. "I got…19…of them…" Lucy could only frown in confusion at his words, however the wounded mage continued. "I was…taken over…by the 20th one…"

"I got it so shut up!" Natsu snapped. "Don't open your wound!"

Lucy was just left stunned. Mr. Macao had fought 20 Vulcans and killed 19 of them. She hadn't even been able to take on one!

The older mage ignored Natsu's orders and continued speaking. "I'm angry at myself! How can I…Face Romeo?"

"I said shut up! You want me to punch you?"

Natsu and Mr. Macao, Lucy could only think that they were both absolutely amazing. She did have to keep Natsu from following through with his threat of punching Mr. Macao though.

They had to wait for a couple hours, both to make sure Mr. Macao would be fine to move and for the storm to ease up. Lucy wasn't looking forward to trekking through the cold snow. Despite the many openings in the cave, Natsu's body heat was enough to keep it a bearable temperature, though she suspected he was raising it on purpose for Mr. Macao's sake.

By the time the storm had cleared, Lucy braced herself for numb fingers and toes and held out hope that they'd get to a warm place fast enough that she wouldn't get frostbite. Her magic hadn't recovered enough to summon Horologium for the walk down. Even if it had, she wouldn't be able to stay in him the entire time.

A heavy large and, most importantly, warm blanket suddenly landed on her head. "Heh?" She pulled it off and looked between it and Natsu in surprise.

The rosette only grinned at her, shifting Mr. Macao's semi-conscious weight to better carry the taller man. "You'll get cold, right?"

She smiled in return, "thanks."

She wrapped it firmly around herself. There were some bloody spots on it from Mr. Macao's injuries, but that didn't really matter. Happy curled up around her neck, his fur tickling her cheeks and radiating warmth where the blanket didn't cover.

They quickly made their way back down the snowy mountain, all of them eager to return home safely.


	26. Chapter 26

Mr. Macao had insisted on giving both Natsu and Lucy a cut of the money he'd made from the extermination job. While her first impulse was to refuse, it wasn't something she could afford to do. That gift, and most of what little money she still had went to the down payment of her new apartment.

It had been a bit of a rush, to find and negotiate for her new home, considering it had been in the late afternoon when they returned with Mr. Macao. However Lucy had managed to do it, with Mirajane's help. Despite the rush, she'd found a nice place. It was the most expensive out of all her limited options, but it wasn't in a questionable neighborhood, it was located fairly close to the guild, it didn't look like the walls were covered in mold and it even came fully furnished!

It was a shining diamond in a sea of coal. Even after spending the night there, Lucy still couldn't believe it hadn't been snatched up the second it'd been on the market. Granted, she hadn't really been able to appreciate the niceness of the apartment when she just got it. Between the mountain, the Vulcan and the stress of house hunting, however brief that was, she had been exhausted. She'd only had enough energy, and money, to buy some takeout and a box of tea before collapsing in the shockingly comfortable bed. She fell asleep before the sun even started to set.

She then slept until noon. It was wonderful.

Lucy could have slept a lot longer if she hadn't been starving. It wasn't until after she'd polished off last night's leftovers and soaked for a good long while in the tub that she began to feel remotely ready for the day. Her magic still wasn't at 100% but she'd have to go on a job today regardless. She had no money left.

Still, she couldn't help but think as she left the bathroom, it was worth it to live in such a nice apartment. For only 70,000 Jewels too. Granted with the down payment and safety deposit it was closer to 140,000, but still she should be able to make enough to afford next month's rent.

She looked around her new home; it was technically only two rooms. The large main room which was divided up by various floor types and the wonderfully spacious bathroom which didn't actually have a door to block it off from the main room. It was fine with Lucy, a curtain worked just as well. She doubted she'd have a lot of company.

The floor was mostly wood and smelled strongly of cedar, the only areas that didn't have wood were the bathroom and the area blocked off as the kitchen, both of which were clad in large white tiles. There was plenty of storage space, not that she had much things to store even after unpacking most of what she had the night before, and the walls were a crisp white color. At one wall there was a small brick fireplace to heat up the room during the winter. In the kitchen there was another heat source; a nifty little cooking stove. She had no idea how to use it but it looked amazing!

Still one of the best parts had to be the bedroom area, with its nice soft bed, large comfy reading couch, Natsu and Happy pigging out on junk food and getting crumbs everywhere…

Her thoughts screeched to a halt as she registered that last bit.

"What the hell?" She cried out, uncomfortably aware that she was just clad in a towel. It was her home, she was supposed to be alone in it! More than that, she honestly hadn't expected to see Natsu again, at least outside the guild hall. While he had warmed up to her a bit more after saving Mr. Macao, it wasn't nearly to the point of being friends.

Natsu waved lazily at her. "Yo!" he greeted around a mouth full of chips. The two of them must have brought those snacks over, she didn't have any food left in her apartment.

His voice snapped her out of her stupor. "Why are you here?" She shouted, and on instinct she kicked out at them, catching Natsu on his cheek and hitting him into Happy.

"'Cause Mira told me you got a new place…" He pouted, holding where she'd hit him and acting as if she'd just flipped out for no reason.

"So what?" If she'd wanted others breaking in all the time she would have gotten that one lockless apartment that was half the price of this one. Mirajane talked her out of it though. "That doesn't mean you can just barge in like you own the place!" She pointed one finger accusingly at him while her other hand clutched at her towel to hold it in place. "Haven't you heard of personal space? What kind of morals do you have?"

"Hey, that kind of hurts my feelings."

"I'm the one that should be hurt!"

Meanwhile Happy had recovered and decided to make himself at home. "It's a nice room." The sound of scratching distracted Lucy from ranting at Natsu.

"Don't sharpen your nails on the wall!" So much for her safety deposit.

Natsu caught her attention again. "Hey, what's this?"

She turned to see him at the desk the apartment had come with, he was holding a bundle of papers. Writing was one of the few indulgences she'd allowed herself while on the road looking for other Celestial Spirit mages. She'd kept up the habit of documenting the things she'd done and the people she'd talked to, however she'd also allowed herself to write other things too, things that were much less factual and more fantastical.

She didn't know if he was holding her Journal or some of her other writing but it didn't matter to Lucy. Either way they were written in the shorthanded code that Miss Layla had taught her and the others. He probably wouldn't be able to read it, but it might raise a few questions as to why she'd bother writing in code to begin with.

She snatched the papers away with a loud cry, holding them close to her chest and glaring at the pink haired mage. She probably could have grabbed them in a much less dramatic way. As it was, Lucy had a feeling she had just called more attention to the papers and he'd only try harder to see what they were. He was a bit like one of the other Lucys in that way.

His next words simply confirmed that. "What is it? I kind of want to know now."

"Who cares?" She was the one who cared, obviously. She needed to change the subject, to distract him. "Just go home already!"

"Don't wanna. We came to visit you!" He grinned. It reminded her of the pictures she'd seen of sharks. Had his teeth always been so pointy?

"Don't I have a say in it?" She cried out.

Somehow she managed to wrangle out a promise from the two of them to not destroy her brand new apartment while she ducked into the bathroom to change. Neither of them commented when she'd brought the paper with her. When she left, now dressed in a dark shirt and knee length jeans, Lucy deliberately placed the papers, the Journal she realized, in a drawer where it wouldn't be easily grabbed.

"I don't really have anything interesting," she told them as she set about brewing some tea. It was about the one thing she was confident in making. Though the kitchen was new to her, boiling water was easy enough.

She discreetly sniffed at the tea bags before placing them in the kettle. She hadn't thought to actually check them before. The box said they were a mix of apple mint, vanilla and elderflower. Lucy had bought them because at the time she'd been both sleep deprived and stunned at the knowledge that there were more kinds of mint other than peppermint and spearmint. They actually smelled quite nice.

However if she'd known Natsu was going to break into her apartment she would have gotten something with chamomile instead. Didn't Happy say Natsu didn't like that kind of tea? Maybe then he'd think twice about breaking and entering.

With a small huff she placed the full teacups in front of the intruders before settling across the table with a cup of her own. "You know I just moved in, nearly everything in here came with the apartment. You might as well leave when you finish your tea."

"You're so cruel." Natsu deadpanned, taking a gulp of the still way too hot water.

"Aye." Happy added.

"How am I the cruel one? I gave you tea!" Wasn't that what she was supposed to do in situations like this?

"Oh yeah!" Natsu suddenly perked up, grinning and once again showing off his unusually sharp teeth. Lucy really had to wonder how they got to be so sharp; was it natural or did he file them? Then again, if he filed them wouldn't they be much shorter than they were? His upper and lower canines were much longer, and sharper, than a normal person's. He continued, breaking her from her dental musings. "Show me all your key guys."

"Key guys? They're not called 'key guys.' They're Celestial spirits." Hadn't she told them about it before? Or was it just to Happy? "And it'd be impossible for me to summon them all right now. It'd take too much magic. There's some I can't summon today anyway." Even if it was the one day of the week Aquarius was contracted to help her, the testy spirit would probably kill her. She'd asked for this week off so she was likely still on that date with her boyfriend.

"How many Celestial spirits do you have?" Happy asked around the same time Natsu asked another question.

"Why can't you summon some today?"

"I have six keys, and I can't summon them today because they don't want me to." The second answer was a bit simplistic, but she could go into contracts later if they were still interested. She detached all her keys from the ring at her belt and placed them on the table in two groups, one for gold and the other for silver. "These keys," she gestured to the silver group, "are silver." Which was a little obvious but that was what they were called. "They're considered common as there's at least three of each kind. You can usually buy them in stores and while the amount of magic needed to summon them varies, it's never nearly as much as it takes to summon a gold key. There are one or two exceptions, however that's usually because more than one of the key is needed," such as the Canis Venatici which needed at least two of the same key for them to be comfortable with being summoned. Supposedly it was about being part of a pack or something.

There was also Sextans, representing the sextant constellation, which were almost like Canis Venatici. Each key summoned a single unique instrument but if the correct number of them, six, were summoned then they'd play themselves and utilize magical music. That, as well as the stronger Octans, took the least amount of magic to summon individually.

"Or," she continued, "several different keys are needed to summon a single whole," like the Argo, there was also Octans, representing the octant constellation, which was like Sextans only they could play much stronger magic. Unlike the Argo though, the Octans Keys weren't named after constellations, rather the keys represented the stars that made up the Octans constellation. It made for some interesting, if not hard to pronounce, names.

Lucy then pointed to each key individually as she named them out. "Horologium, the Pendulum Clock, you've met him before on Mt. Hakobe. Crux the Southern Cross, and Lyra the Lyre."

She then turned her focus to the glittering gold keys near her other hand. Natsu seemed to be paying particular attention to those. "Golden keys are different. There's only one of each and they all represent one of the Ecliptic Zodiacs. They take the most magic to summon but they are considered the strongest in terms of pure power and control over their element."

The fact that she had three of them in her possession was almost beyond belief. Most Celestial mages went their entire lives without seeing even one of them. Though the fact that Lucy had pretty much inherited two of them likely contributed to that. A part of her was still in awe of the fact that Miss Layla had wielded all twelve of them at once, even if most of them were with her through a temporary contract.

"As you can see, I have Taurus the Bull, who you've also met at Mt. Hakobe." She paused for a moment, recalling how that particular meeting went. "I know his appearance took you by surprise and you didn't know he was on our side, but Natsu." She glared at him, making sure she had his attention. "If you ever strike down one of my spirits like that again, I will never forgive you."

In retrospect that was actually a really weak threat; it'd sounded much better in her head. She'd also said it to Natsu, someone who'd just broken into her apartment and gone through her things; he probably didn't care at all about her forgiveness or anger.

However it was also the only threat Lucy could make that she would be able to follow through on.

He proved her thoughts right by not being intimidated at all. Giving her a cheerful grin and a thumbs up. "Got it!"

Lucy wanted to growl at him, to impress upon the dragon slayer that she was serious. It probably wouldn't change anything though so instead she let out a small huff at his flippant response before continuing. "This one's Aquarius, the Water Bearer. She's the one who sent Bora's yacht back to Hargeon's port."

"Aye! The fish lady!" Happy gleefully chirped.

Lucy gave a weak laugh. "If you called her that, she'd probably drown you."

Happy gave a small shudder, clearly recalling Aquarius's personality from the one time the two met. "Aye."

"Lastly, I have Cancer, the Crab."

Strangely enough, this got the biggest reaction out of the two.

Natsu smiled broadly, Lucy would swear she could see fire in the back of his mouth. "Crab? It's a crab?"

"Craaab!" Apparently Happy's love of fish extended to other sea foods as well. However, if the blue cat tried to eat her spirit then, comrade or not, she'd rip his teeth out. She'd do that if he tried to do the same to Aquarius too, but Lucy had a feeling the spirit would try to drown her for the sentiment.

"I swear you two get excited over the most random things…" She grumbled, before gasping sharply as she recalled the seventh key she'd most recently obtained. "Oh no!"

This got the other's attention immediately. "What? What's wrong?" Natsu looked around, as if something was going to jump out at them at any moment.

"I completely forgot!" She scrambled up out of the chair. "I got another key in Hargeon, just before meeting you two." How could she forget? She'd even placed the now nearly gleaming key on the counter just so she'd remember it after she'd woken up. She scooped up the small object and cradled it gently.

"I'm so sorry," she cooed to it, completely ignoring the looks Natsu and Happy were giving her. "I didn't mean to forget you, that wasn't very nice of me at all!" The key pulsed warmly in her hands. She couldn't communicate with it as easily as she could with the keys she was contracted to, but it sort of felt like forgiveness to her. "Don't worry, I'll make a contract with you right away!"

She turned to face the two males, both of whom were looking at her like she'd done something completely crazy. "I'm going to make a contract with this spirit. You can watch if you want."

That got their interest and they followed her to a more open part of her apartment.

"Does it involve blood seals?" Happy sounded a bit worried, but before she could assure him otherwise, Natsu spoke up.

"Butt seals? That sounds painful."

"Why are you suddenly talking about butts?" She muttered. Even though she'd just asked, Lucy honestly didn't want to know why Natsu's thoughts went in that direction. She spoke a bit louder, "we don't need blood seals or anything like that. Just watch." She settled herself into a stable stance and raised the silver key. It took a bit more magic to summon a spirit that she didn't have a contract with. She'd heard that it took even more to summon a spirit that had a contract with someone else, though thankfully that wasn't the case here.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of the Canis Minor, Nicora!"

There was the usual flash of light and doorbell sound and with a burst of magical smoke a small, snowman like dog appeared with a weird almost purring sort of bark. He landed on the ground with a flourish, standing on two legs. She grinned, that spirit really was cute. Natsu and Happy stared at him in shock.

"D-don't feel bad!"

"Aye, you'll do better next time!"

"Wha? Hey! It's not a failure!" She picked her new spirit up. "He's a Nicora, a type of spirit dog. He's adorable." With that she hugged him close and got hugged back.

"H-he is?" Natsu didn't seem to get it. A part of Lucy wondered if that was a general guy thing or if it was just unique to Natsu.

"His gate doesn't use much magic, so he's a popular summon for children and his kind are commonly used as pets." With that she pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. "Moving on, it's time for the contract."

The Nicora nodded in agreement.

"Are Monday's good to summon you?" She focused intently on the dog and his reactions to her questions.

The spirit shook his head.

As she continued, she had the feeling that Natsu and Happy were less than impressed. Well, she supposed it would seem kind of dull from an outsider's perspective. Eventually she moved on from summon-able days to favorite foods to asking if there were any taboos the spirit had. The last thing they talked about were conditions Lucy would have to agree to if she wanted to keep the Nicora's contract. Considering Canis Minor was one of the most easygoing kind of Celestial spirit and the fact that it'd been a while since this one in particular had been contracted to anyone, the spirit didn't give her any.

It took less than half an hour to get through it all.

"Okay, contract done!" It was, but at the same time it also wasn't; Lucy would need to write up an official contract, sign it along with the spirit and make three copies; one for her to keep, one for the spirit, and one for the spirit to file with the Celestial King. Also there were other terms she wanted to add, most of which would be difficult to explain to her observers and probably raise too many questions.

However, for now, what they'd talked about and agreed to was enough for a verbal preliminary contract. Unless she stated otherwise now at this moment, the preliminary contract would last a week before she needed to either renew it, write up the actual contract or let the spirit go. It also gave them a week to change the conditions. Smaller things like the days she could summon the spirits were easily changed without affecting the main contract; something Cancer and some of her other spirits took advantage of when it suited them. The conditions, however, were unchangeable unless the spirit wanted to change their entire contract, which Lucy was told, involved quite a bit of Celestial bureaucracy as well as renegotiating and rewriting the entire contract.

"That seems really easy." Lucy jumped at the sound of Natsu's voice. She'd forgotten he was there; both he and Happy had been relatively quiet throughout the negotiations. That or she'd been too focused on her new spirit.

"I guess it looks that way, but it's really important." Most, if not all, of the contract is so that the spirit doesn't get abused by the mage they're contracted to. However that didn't work all the time. Sometimes spirits were so desperate for a contract, they won't have any condition or taboos and would agree to just about anything so long as they could be used.

"These contracts are promises made to the spirits. It's the basis of Celestial Spirit magic." She hoped the tea still on the table was cool enough for her to drink now. After all that talking her throat was parched. "Because of that, I try to never break a promise." It was more of a personal thing, a good habit she wanted to cultivate and keep. So long as she didn't break the promises made in her contracts, it didn't actually matter if she kept her word regarding other things.

"I see…" Natsu muttered.

"That's right," Lucy recalled one last thing she needed to do. "I need to name him, if he wants it." She looked to the spirit who gave her a nod. Having their summoner give them a more personal name was something some silver key spirits preferred. Others, like Horologium and Crux, disliked the idea of being called something other than what they were.

She had to think for a few seconds for a name that suited the white creature before a good one popped into her head. She knelt down and held her arms out, "come'ere Plue!"

With a happy 'puun' the orange nosed dog bounded into her arms.

"Plue?" Natsu sounded a bit incredulous.

"Isn't it cute? I think it suits him."

Happy came a little closer to the two of them. "Plue is the Canis Minor, but he doesn't bark. It's weird."

"You're a cat and you don't meow." She pointed out, giving Plue one last snuggle before setting him down to go back to her tea. However, Plue had a different idea as he started to do some strange charades that she couldn't interpret.

"Plue! That's a great idea!" Natsu called out.

"You understood that?"

Predictably, Natsu didn't answer. "Celestial Spirits…They're really useful aren't they? That bull on the mountain helped out a lot."

"True, and he would have helped more if you hadn't knocked him out." It might have been an accident, and she might have forgiven him, but that didn't mean Lucy wasn't still a little mad at Natsu for knocking Taurus out.

Natsu continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I didn't think Lucy would join us then, but if she hadn't, things could have gone a lot worse." She bit her tongue and fought the urge to remind him that Mirajane had suggested she join them; there was only so many times she wanted to repeat herself. He turned to face her. "Now that I think about it, you're really weird, but you're also reliable and a good person."

The young man in front of her regularly ate fire, couldn't stand even thinking about transportation, had a talking blue cat who could fly as a friend and he was calling her weird. A part of her wanted to know what kind of world Natsu lived in. The rest of her was too terrified to find out.

Whatever point he was trying to make, it seemed he still had to think about it. He lapsed into a thoughtful silence, leaving Lucy in suspense.

Happy, understandably, was able to follow his thought process better. "Natsu, are you thinking about…? Are you sure you want to? She is really weird."

"Why am I the weird one?"

"Yes, I'm sure! It was Plue's idea and I agree with it!" He turned to her with a big boyish grin. "Let's make a team!"

It sounded all nice and dramatic, but the meaning was lost on her. "A team?"

"Aye!" Happy chirped. "All the members of the guild are comrades, right?"

"Yes." That had been thoroughly established on Mt. Hakobe.

"But some members get along much better than others. So they make teams and take jobs together. If you're on a team it's easier to take harder jobs."

"That makes sense…" Natsu and Happy were still way too eye catching for her own good, however harder jobs meant more money and possibly more traveling. If she had more money, than she could buy any neglected spirit she came across. And traveling could only mean more chances to find another Celestial Spirit mage. "Okay! It sounds fun!"

"Alright!" Natsu cried out, "it's decided!"

"Aye!"

She giggled. Despite whatever ill will she'd gained from the journey to Magnolia and the issues on Mt Hakobe, it seemed she'd managed to become friends with Natsu after all. She found that she couldn't wait to go on their first mission together.


	27. Chapter 27

"No way."

"What?"

"I don't want to do that mission."

"Why not? It's close by, and look at that reward. You were happy about it before."

Yeah, and then I read the whole thing, Lucy mentally grumbled. "Do I look blonde to you?"

"You can wear this." Natsu held up an ugly looking lump of something that could possibly pass for hair if seen from a distance. Lucy thought it was once the head of a mop. It also looked like mustard had been smeared on it. A small part of her wondered where he'd pulled it out from; she hadn't seen it until he'd taken it out just now. She pushed that thought aside, it wasn't important. There was absolutely no way that thing was going near her head.

"Who'd want to wear that? Can't you get another blonde?" And to think, she'd thought he actually wanted to partner with her. It turned out he just needed a good looking woman.

"There aren't any blonds in Fairy Tail." Natsu pouted.

"Well, there's Laxus." Happy piped up.

"Like hell I'm going to ask him for help. He's never around anyway."

"True, and Max is on a mission too…"

Natsu turned to face Lucy once again. His face completely serious. "So, no, there's no one else."

"How many other members did you ask?"

"All of them," was the quick reply. "Well, not Levy, she was busy at the time. Besides, you promised us right? And a Celestial mage doesn't break their promises."

"Ugh!" She rubbed at her temples and fought the desire to bang her head on her kitchen table. True, she did promise, even if it was more implied than anything else. "Why do I even need to be a maid, couldn't we just sneak in? That's what the two of you will have to do anyway." Lucy honestly couldn't imagine those two waiting patiently while she did most of the work. She was pretty sure she still remembered how to pick locks. Or at least how to jimmy a window.

Her statement was met with silence. She glanced up to see the two of them looking completely shocked, not unlike how they did several days ago when she pointed out that a dragon wouldn't be in Hargeon.

"You didn't even think of that, did you." Maybe it was a good thing they were teaming up. As strong as Natsu was, logical thinking didn't seem to be in his skill set. Then again, this team up was likely to be temporary; they did only approach her so she could be a maid, after all. They wouldn't want to stick with her afterwards. It'd probably be better for all of them in the long run.

Happy suddenly jumped up to whisper in Natsu's ear. "Lucy doesn't hold back, does she?" Lucy couldn't tell if he wanted her to hear or not. He was speaking too loud for her to not hear his words.

"Yeah, wonder what kind of horrible outlaw she was before we met her?"

"You're the one who got a job to steal a book!" That outlaw comment hit a little too close to home. Wasn't that what she was? She'd run away from home after stealing Lord Heartfilia's money as well as her spirits. Though she hadn't broken the law since then, the risk of going to jail and losing her spirits was too great. "Why did you pick this one anyway?" And why did the guild accept such a shady job? If she hadn't promised to go on a job with them, she would have refused the moment she found that it involved stealing.

He shrugged. "I just kind of grabbed it at random."

"Seriously?"

Without skipping a beat Natsu changed the subject back to the topic of the maid. "Why would they put that on the request if they didn't want someone to pose as a maid?"

"To make it easier for someone to sneak in if they had that option; which we don't."

"We would if you wore the wig."

"Like hell that's going on my head!" She snapped. "If you want a blonde maid so badly, then you dress up as one!"

"I look terrible in a skirt."

"Aye, he does."

Lucy really didn't want to know. She really, really didn't want to know. Still, she couldn't help but ask: "Did you shave your legs before putting it on? Cause though it seems like it doesn't matter it does make a difference." So does the cut, style, color and now Lucy was thinking way too hard about how to make Natsu look pretty. He could probably pull it off. He wouldn't be a dainty beauty or a classical beauty or even a bombshell like she was, but he could probably be passable.

"I really don't think it would have helped." Happy snickered.

Lucy crossed her arms. "Tell you what, I'll dress up as a maid if you do the same." She really hoped his masculine pride would make him say no.

Natsu made a strange, almost growling noise in the back of his throat. "Fine! We'll go with Plan T!"

She blinked. "Plan T?" What about all the other letters between that and A? What did the T mean anyway?

"Aye! Plan Take by Force!"

She mentally cheered for the fact that she wouldn't have to be a blonde maid before registering what exactly plan T meant, causing her to cry out loud. "That's a terrible plan!" Because it really was. She buried her face in her hands before sighing in defeat. "Anyway, we can talk more about how to go about this later. But if we're actually going to go on this mission we should probably head to Shirotsume town and meet with the client, that's how it works, right?"

"Aye!" Happy then paused thoughtfully. "But if you're not dressing as a maid, wouldn't you be useless on this mission?"

So her only purpose was for a distraction? "A promise like this works both ways. I agreed to go on the mission with you. You agreed to take me."

Natsu jumped up, relieved to finally get going. "Right, got it! Let's go!"

A few hours later Natsu wasn't nearly as enthusiastic. "Let's stop." He moaned, sounding a bit choked. "Please."

Shirotsume wasn't that far away from Magnolia. However it was just the right distance away to make it too far to walk. So they had to take a carriage. Thankfully Natsu hadn't spent all the money Macao had given him and could afford to pay for the carriage. This turned what would have been a two day mission into, potentially, a one day trip even with their late start.

"We're almost there," Lucy comforted. It seemed hollow, though, in the face of Natsu's pale and sickly complexion.

True to her word, it didn't take long for the vehicle to stop and for the three of them to disembark. Natsu recovered almost instantly, though he was still looking clammy.

"I'll never ride a carriage ever again," he grumbled.

Happy responded in a tired voice. "You say that all the time."

However, as usual, it didn't take long for Natsu to make a complete recovery. "Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's eat!"

"Why don't we go meet with the client first," Lucy suggested, partially to stall as she had no money for food. Lucy could only hope they didn't want her to treat them again. "We can talk about what to do while you eat. It shouldn't take that long, right?"

"Ehh, but I'm hungry now." The Dragon Slayer whined.

"If you're that hungry, can't you eat your own fire?"

"What're you saying? Would you eat your own bull or Plue?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Well, they're the same."

"They are?" She supposed it made sense.

"Come on, please," he begged, "let's get something to eat!"

She sighed, "fine! You go ahead and have a meal." With that she turned and started walking away. "I'm going to check around the town."

What she found out was slightly discouraging. The townsfolk were friendly enough, eager to stop and chat for a bit, however whenever the subject turned towards duke Everlue they always got remarkably cagey. The most information came from a crotchety old homeless man who decried the duke and went on a fierce rant about how the rich man was Zeref incarnate. She could admit, it got a little weird at the end. She still smiled and gave him the very last few coins she had as thanks.

Half an hour later she was still wandering around the town, though this time she was looking for her guild mates. She was cursing herself for not suggesting a meeting place and time when she heard a familiar voice half muffled by food.

"Let's keep the fatty ones for Lucy." Somehow she should have known Natsu was still eating.

"She does look like she likes fatty foods." Following Happy's voice, she found the two eating at an outdoor table, surrounded by plates of empty food.

"Wow! This one's really fatty! She'll love this!"

It was touching, that they'd think to save some food for her, however… "Don't decide what kind of foods I like!" How did it look like she'd enjoy fatty things anyway?

"Hey!" Natsu raised a hand in greeting. "You're back! You took forever." Despite what she'd said, he pushed a large plate full of meat towards her. Lucy couldn't help but notice that it was half fat. Still, she was hungry and she couldn't afford to turn down free food, so she settled down and started to pick out the least fatty pieces of meat.

"I was getting information on the duke. Apparently Everlue is a real piece of work."

"Wow, you're really getting into this job, Lucy." Happy commented as he finished off the last of his fish. "Even though you really didn't seem to like it before."

"I didn't like the thought of dressing up as a maid for a pervert." And having blonde hair was way too dangerous for her. "Besides, it's my first job; I want to do my best."

"It doesn't matter what kind of guy this Everluke guy is," Natsu stated, "we just got to do the job."

"But aren't you curious about it? It's so specific too; steal a book from the duke." She put a finger to her lips in thought. "If it was money or important documents, I could understand, but a book? Is it magical?"

"Who cares?" Natsu repeated, sounding exasperated, "hurry up and finish eating so we can get started!"

"You're the one who wanted to eat first!" A quick glance showed her that the fatty bits were all that remained, she pushed the plate to the Dragon Slayer. "Here, I'm done. You can finish it if you want."

"Huh? But you left your favorite parts."

"Don't decide that for me!"

Thankfully it didn't take long for them to finish with lunch. Not when Natsu realized that Lucy was serious about giving what she didn't eat to him. She's not sure the food lasted even ten seconds once he got his hands on it.

Soon they were approaching a large mansion. It was tall and impressive, yet Lucy couldn't help but think that it was a bit warmer than the Heartfilia manor. There wasn't any one thing that caused her to think that. It might have been the colors which were warm woods and white render that gave it an almost quaint appeal, or it might have been the design, which was tall and narrow as opposed to the Heartfilia manor's short and wide architecture. For whatever reason, seeing such a big building didn't fill her with as much dread as seeing the Heartfilia manor always did.

"It's magnificent. Is this Everlue's?" From what she'd heard of him, she hadn't thought he'd be the type of guy to go for something so relatively understated.

"No," Happy answered while intently reading a map. "It's the client's mansion."

"That makes sense." She muttered. If someone was paying 200,000 Jewels for a book; they'd have to be rich. Maybe it was a rivalry of some kind?

Natsu knocked on the door. Lucy couldn't help but admire the little details and textures the builder put into it. It seemed to be common in Fiore, to put little somewhat intricate designs on doors. Though it wasn't something she'd ever seen before leaving the Heartfilia manor. She figured it was a relatively modern fashion, Lord Heartfilia never kept up with those.

The door opened a sliver. She couldn't see who was on the other side, but a soft polite voice spoke out. "May I have your name, please?"

Natsu, being in the front of the group and the one who knocked, answered. "We're from the mage guild Fairy-"

The person behind the door made a destressed sound, cutting the dragon slayer off. "Shh! Be quiet please!" They paused and Lucy could hear them taking a deep, steadying breath. "Excuse me…" they apologized, "but could you enter from the back door, please?"

Lucy, Natsu and Happy could only stare in confusion as the door clicked shut.

"Is that normal?" She wasn't so sure it was, considering the look on the other two's faces.

"Maybe?" Happy frowned as Natsu once more led them to the door. "Each job is different so…"

"It's kind of weird, but who cares!" Natsu grinned back at the two of them. "That just makes it more interesting."

After entering through the correct door, they soon found themselves in a large, tastefully decorated sitting room. A sharply dressed man with a small tooth brush bristle like mustache was waiting for them. He gestured for them to take a seat while a woman in a striped dress came out with a tray of drinks.

"I'm terribly sorry about earlier," he began, "I'm the client Kaby Melon. This is my wife."

"Your name sounds yummy." Natsu laughed.

"Melon!"

"That's a bit rude!" Just because he was named after a food was no reason to joke about it.

Mr. Melon, however, just laughed. "People tell me that often."

"I wouldn't have imagined a mage from the renowned Fairy Tail guild would accept this job…" Mr. Melon started, though Natsu once again laughed it off.

"Really? I was wondering why such a good job was still available."

Probably because such a large reward for such a simple thing was really suspicious, Lucy thought.

"And you're so young too. You must be a famous mage."

"Natsu is also called Salamander." Happy chirped up.

"Oh! I've heard of that nickname." Mr. Melon commented excitedly before turning to Lucy, "and this is?"

"I'm Lucy, I'm afraid I'm not well known." Or at all known. Something told her she shouldn't say she joined just yesterday. And it was only yesterday that she got her guild mark. It felt like much longer than that.

"That's alright, I'm sure if you're with Salamander, I'm sure you're quite capable." Hearing him say it like that made Lucy feel like she was sort of lying. Mr. Melon leaned forward, hands clasped together. "Let's talk about the job, shall we?"

"All right."

"Aye."

Lucy could only sit and listen nervously.

"There is only one thing I'm asking you to do: the one and only copy of 'Day Break' that the duke Everlue owns…Please incinerate it."

"So we don't have to steal it?" Lucy was only half surprised at how disappointed Natsu looked. Even though burning things were right in line with his skill set. All the same, burning something like a book made Lucy feel uneasy.

"I'm basically asking you to destroy someone's possession without their permission, so it's almost the same as stealing…"

"That's a bit surprising," Lucy spoke up, though a part of her was worried she was messing this whole thing up, there were some things she felt she had to confirm. "I thought you were going to ask us to retrieve the book, that it was taken from you first…"

"Wait, incinerate means burn right? Why don't we just burn the mansion down?" Natsu suddenly laughed.

"That'll be easy," Happy added.

"No!" Lucy cried. "That's completely illegal, you'll go to jail for that for sure!" She turned back to the client, if he was bothered by Natsu's willingness to commit arson, he didn't show it. "What is so important about this book anyway?" She asked again. It was incredibly strange for someone to go so far to destroy a simple book.

"Who cares?" Natsu crowed, "we're getting 200,000 for it!"

"No, that's not the reward anymore," Mr. Melon spoke up, "I raised it to 2,000,000."

"Tw-" Lucy started, however she was too shocked to continue, however while Happy and Natsu were in just as much shock they hadn't lost their voices.

"Two!" Happy started.

"Million?" Natsu finished. "What the hell?"

"My…You didn't know about the increase?" Mr. Melon calmly asked.

"2,000,000? Hold on!" Natsu cried, looking at his fingers, "if we divide it by three… Arg! I can't calculate it!"

"It's easy." Happy started, though he seemed to be in just as much shock as Natsu. "I get one million, Natsu gets one million and the rest is Lucy's."

"You're so smart Happy!"

"There won't be any left over for me!" Lucy snapped before actually doing the mental math. "It'll be around 666,500 for each of us, give or take a few hundred Jewel." How many months of rent was that? Nine? She'd have plenty of money for other stuff too, like food and clothes.

"Eh? That's a lot less than Happy's calculations, Lucy, are you sure that's right?"

"Happy just divided it in half!"

"Now please, let's all calm down." Only when the three of them started to bicker between themselves did Mr. Melon actually start to get nervous.

"Wha-what made you increase it?" Lucy asked a bit nervously. It was already overpriced beforehand.

"That book really needs to be destroyed. I…I can't forgive that book's existence." That confession was shockingly dramatic and sounded terribly personal.

Natsu interrupted the tension by lighting his head on fire. "Let's go, Lucy!" He jumped up, grabbing her hand and yanking her along. "I'm all fired up!"

"H-hey! Wait!" Many thoughts were swirling about in her head as he dragged her from the mansion. What did Mr. Melon mean when he said he couldn't forgive the existence of that book? It was all so suspicious; would they even get paid? And couldn't Natsu slow down just a little?


	28. Chapter 28

Duke Everlue's mansion was impressive. From its towering metal topped fence to the gilded and bejeweled front door; everything about it screamed wealth. Once again, Lucy found herself comparing it to the Heartfilia manor. Unlike Mr. Melon's house this one came second to her old home. The Heartfilia manor was large and extensive, however it wasn't over stating its wealth. She couldn't help but think that Everlue, if he built the place, made such an effort to appear rich and important that it was coming off as trying way too hard.

Seeing it from the air wasn't much better. It might be because she was spoiled by the large amount of land Lord Heartfilia had, but seeing this mansion right now, with its narrow lawn sandwiched between the building and fence made it seem so much smaller than even Mr. Melon's home.

Happy flew Lucy up to the roof. Her hands were clutched tightly to the cat's paws, however the blue cat didn't say anything about how tightly she was gripping him.

"Hey," she started as they approached the roof, "your wings…they're not going to disappear yet, are they?" Considering the mansion was three stories tall, the drop was not inconsiderable. More than that, beforehand she'd never really been in a position to time how long the strange cat could keep his wings out.

"Not yet." None the less, they quickly moved over the flat roof to where Natsu was staring intently through a window. "We're here."

"Thanks Happy." With the assurance of solid ground beneath her feet, she released her death grip on his paws. She stumbled a bit on her landing but thankfully the other two weren't paying attention.

"Why do we have to sneak in?" Natsu grumbled, still not moving from his place pressed against the window.

"Isn't it obvious? What we're doing is basically robbery."

"But the T in Plan T stands for Take by force." Happy pouted, "wouldn't it be better to go in from the front and blow up everyone in our way?"

"That's a horrible idea!"

"Yeah, then we could burn the book easily that way." Natsu added, ignoring Lucy's half shouted objections.

"Didn't you just hear me? This isn't like taking care of thieves or monsters. Duke Everlue is the duke! Even if half the towns convinced he's the absolute worst in the world, he could still have us all tossed into jail."

"Eeh… so what do you think we should do?" If Natsu's voice was slightly sarcastic, Lucy decided to be the better mage and ignore it.

"We'll go with Plan B."

"Plan B?"

"Break in."

They both gave her an incredulous look, but it was Happy who spoke up. "How is that different from Plan T?"

"Stealth: the objective of Plan B is to do as much as possible without anyone inside the mansion knowing about us…Think umm…" What was the stealthiest thing she could think of; more than that, what would appeal to the energetic, excitable and loud Natsu? "Ninjas." Those mysterious shadowy characters had only cropped up in a few of the stories Lucy'd ever read, but they were cool and likeable, weren't they?

Judging by the starry smile both boys were giving her, Lucy had guessed right. In an instant Natsu's scarf was wrapped around his head, like some sort of face mask. "Ninja!"

"Nin-nin!" Happy added, face serious and his hands in what Lucy could only assume was a stereotypical ninja pose.

"…Right, let's just," Lucy gestured to the window, " break in, shall we?" Though Lucy wasn't sure how they'd manage to do so. She didn't have any wire with her and Natsu didn't seem like the type to carry any either.

Luckily Natsu knew what he was doing as he pressed his hand against the glass. Lucy could only stare in wonder as it quickly melted, leaving a hole for him to reach through.

"Good job, Salamander." She praised, thinking that using his nickname might encourage Natsu to keep up with the whole ninja thing. However, calling him that out loud felt weird. Lucy didn't think she'd do it again.

The window opened into a room full of junk and various antiques. Happy immediately went to a skull which quickly found its way onto his head. "Natsu," he hissed. As soon as he had the dragon slayer's attention, his hands went back into that ninja pose. "Nin-nin."

"Nin-nin." Natsu answered back, mimicking the pose.

While the two of them were being fairly quiet, Lucy wasn't sure if she regretted mentioning ninjas or not. Regardless the trio quickly snuck out and started checking the other rooms. However, it wasn't long before Natsu's impatience broke the quiet.

"Oi, Lucy, don't tell me we gotta search every room."

"It's not like we'd have to go through them all. If it's a book," she hissed to the others, "it'll probably be in a library."

"Wouldn't it be faster to ask someone where it is?" Natsu grumbled; apparently already tired of playing ninja, "sneaking around's boring."

"Aye."

"If being a ninja was easy than everyone would be one." She started, because honestly the only reason the two of them had been quiet so far was because they took being ninjas seriously. For the sake of stealth, she needed to keep them playing ninja. Maybe challenging him would help. "Are you just going to give up so soon? I thought you were more determined than that."

"What?" He hissed, "I'll show you determined!"

However he was going to show her was interrupted with the floor exploding in front of them. Out from the carpet jumped five enemy…maids?

"Intruders detected!" The largest one snapped out.

The three Fairy Tail members all flinched in shock and it wasn't just because of their sudden appearance. All the maids were various kinds of goink. From the gorilla like apparent leader, to the one with the football shaped head, none of them were close to the definition of good looking, much less pretty. Lucy couldn't help but think that, if that was how the duke's taste ran, then dressing her up as a maid would have been useless. Natsu on the other hand…

"Eliminate," the giant pink haired maid intoned, "the targets.

Natsu lunged forward and scattered the maids with a flaming kick. "Ninja," he hissed as the women fell down to the first floor, all of them clearly unconscious. "We can't let them find us just yet. Nin-nin" He posed, speaking in his normal volume.

"We must complete Plan B. Nin-nin." Happy added, posing on Natsu's knee.

"You guys are being really noisy though." Lucy muttered. Well, it seemed that the stealth portion of Plan B was over now. She quickly grabbed the fire dragon slayer by his scarf and dragged him to the nearest room. "Someone probably heard that! Let's hide in a room for now."

"Let them come!" Despite his words, he wasn't putting up much resistance to being dragged, "I'll take them!"

"I'm sure you can!" She snapped as she yanked Natsu into the first room she came across and slammed the door shut behind them. As luck would have it; they found the library. She let out a small sigh of relief. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to find Day Break. She was suddenly keenly aware of how very visible and identifiable the guild mark on her hand was.

"Woah! So many books!" Natsu shouted. Even he must have realized that stealth was pointless. His scarf was arranged back to how it normally was.

"Aye." Happy agreed.

As Lucy glanced at the titles, she couldn't quite keep her lips from quirking up into a smile. "The duke has poor taste in woman, but such a wonderful selection of books." She muttered to herself, ignoring the shouts and exclamations coming from Natsu and Happy. "If he actually reads them, I'd respect him a bit. But…" she sighed, "it's going to take forever to find the one book we need…" Like with the Heartfilia library, Everlue didn't have any sort of organizing system. She couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic as she ran her fingers over the titles. How many hours had she spent looking for a specific book in Lord Heartfilia's vast library?

Natsu's loud voice yanked her from her musings. "I found a golden book!"

"Natsu," she snapped, "take this seriously!" Then she and the other two noticed that the book was, much to their collective shock, the very same book they were hired to burn. Then Lucy noticed who the author was and that stunned her even more.

"Let's burn it then." Natsu cheerfully said, lighting his hand on fire. It was only then that Lucy realized she'd led a reckless, and somewhat careless, fire mage into a library full of very flammable books.

"That was easy." Happy chirped, not seeing the issues an open flame might cause in a library.

"Wa-wait a second!" Lucy cried as she yanked the golden book from the rosette's hand. He pouted and looked a bit confused, but thankfully the fire in his hand went out. Lucy took the opportunity to take a closer look at the book. "The author is Kemu Zaleon?"

"Kemu?"

"He was a famous author, in fact he was also once a famous mage too…" She started to explain, but then figured Natsu wasn't the type to care. Lucy wasn't sure what Kemu Zaleon had been better at: his magic or his writing. Even Lord Heartfilia was a fan of his books. She held the book up in awe. "I thought I'd read all of his works!" Was she holding an unpublished work? Was this a chance to read something even Lord Heartfilia would never get to? More than that, it was a chance to read more work from the author that often made Lucy think she could do something similar.

"Whatever," Natsu brought her back from her happy thoughts. "Let's burn it."

"What? No way!" She clutched the precious treasure close to her chest. "This is a cultural heritage, there's no way we can burn it!"

"Are you abandoning the job?" Natsu's voice suddenly got a lot more serious. However, Lucy didn't want to back down now.

"I just said I was a huge fan!"

"It still sounds like you want to ditch the job." He growled. "Even if you are a member, I won't let you tarnish Fairy Tail's name."

"Then let's just pretend to burn it. I'll keep the book!"

Natsu glared as he crossed his arms. "I don't want to lie. Besides the client said-"

A strange laugh interrupted Natsu's reminder causing the three to watch in surprise as the library floor started to crack.

"I see, I see," A strange voice spoke up. "So that's what you guys were after." An egg shaped man suddenly burst up from the floor. He wore a well-tailored suit with a large round button in the middle and his hair was strangely a much lighter shade than his mustache. "I'm glad I allowed you guys to do whatever. I'm a genius!" He laughed again and Lucy could only assume he was duke Everlue.

"Weren't you the one who didn't want to get caught? Now we have to fight a weird ball guy cause you were stalling!" Natsu shifted into a fighting stance.

"S-sorry." She muttered. Lucy figured any good thoughts she'd earned from saving Mr. Macao at Mt. Hakobe were now long since erased.

"Hmph," Everlue grunted as he landed, "I was wondering what the mages were looking for so frantically. To think you were after that worthless book."

"Worthless book?" Natsu muttered.

That didn't make much sense to Lucy. Why would the client be willing to pay such a large amount of Jewels when the owner thought the book was worthless? "S-so," she started, hope lacing her voice, "I can keep the book then?"

"No." That answer was expected. "Regardless of how worthless it is, the book still belongs to me." If he'd been actually willing to part with it, Mr. Melon could have just bought it off of Everlue and burnt it himself.

"How stingy."

"Shut up ugly." She twitched at that. It would figure, considering his taste in maids, that she wasn't his definition of attractive but that was no reason to call her ugly.

"All we have to do," Natsu started, sounding bored; Lucy thought he was getting fed up with everything, "Is burn it, and we'll be done here."

"No!" She wailed. Despite his obvious impatience for their job, Lucy couldn't help but object. He was talking about burning an unpublished one of a kind Kemu Zaleon book. She couldn't let that stand! "Absolutely not!"

Her, somewhat childish, response caused the dragon slayer to snap. "Lucy!" And there went all the good will she'd accumulated with him. "It's our job!"

"Then let me at least read it!" She snapped back before setting herself down on the floor and opening the book right then and there.

"Here?" The three men gaped.

She dimly heard more words being exchanged but her sole focus was on the novel in her hands. It was hard to tell at first, when reading the first few lines, but after a while a problem made itself abundantly clear.

The book was awful! Even a few pages in she could see how bad the book was. There were so many spelling and grammatical mistakes that it almost physically hurt to read! Not to mention the main character. What kind of vain, petty, egotistical person would make an author write a whole novel about them?

And yet, despite that she could see bits and pieces of Zaleon's usual writing style in it. She could tell, even without having the name on the cover, that her favorite writer did actually write the piece of garbage she had in her hands.

By the end of the first chapter, something clicked in her mind. The knowledge that Zaleon was not only a writer but a mage. That he was hired to write a book for Everlue. That he, with all his other successful works under his belt would write something so deliberately awful for something that was obviously commissioned. There was the fact that, according to the publishing date on the back of the cover page, this was the author's very last written work. More than that, now that she was concentrating, Lucy could feel the magic in the pages; a spell had been cast throughout the entirety of Zaleon's last work.

She was dimly aware that there were two more people in the room; that didn't matter, Natsu was strong enough to take them on. Probably.

Lucy had to swallow thickly, it felt like there was bile rising up the back of her throat. She didn't know if it was because of the terrible writing or the horrible feeling in her gut. She didn't want to read anymore, and not just because it was a very badly written book. At the same time, she had to keep reading, she had to find out just what Zaleon was so determined to hide. She had to find out why Everlue made him hide it.

She leapt to her feet. "Natsu! Buy me some time!" She shouted as she dashed out the door to the library. "There's some kind of secret to this book!"

"Lucy! Where are you going?"

"Someplace to read it!" With that she slammed the door shut. Lucy wasn't actually sure if that'd do anything to slow down pursuit, but it made her feel better. A part of her did twinge at the thought of leaving Natsu alone to deal with enemies, however she was certain he'd be fine.

Lucy raced down the halls. Not knowing where she was going, but figuring she shouldn't leave the building, she headed downwards. She didn't stop running, not until she'd gone as far down as she could. She'd wound up in some sort of strange sewer system below the mansion.

With a deep breath of the fowl air, she settled herself down against the wall. Out of her pocket she pulled out a red pair of glasses. She'd never expected to have to use them in this sort of situation, but she was glad she'd splurged and bought her own pair of Gale Force Reading Glasses after leaving the Heartfilia manor. She was even gladder for her habit of carrying them everywhere.

She got to work.

Her eyes flicked rapidly over the quickly turning pages. By the time she was half way through a pattern had started to emerge. Perhaps it was the reading glasses, or because she was a mage or perhaps it was because she was used to working with codes. Whatever the case, Lucy kept finding sections and chunks of writing that offended her literary sensibilities, yet when the letters or words were swapped it became something so different and beautiful it took her breath away.

By the time she finished 'Day Break,' she was confident she'd cracked it. Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening it back up to the beginning and starting again. This time she translated it as she went along, starting with the title.

Even with her magical glasses it was slow going, it had to be, considering. Often times she'd had to flip back a few pages just to retranslate what she'd read before. When she did finally finish her second, much more honest, read through a headache was pounding behind her eyes and Lucy was torn between crying and throwing up.

She closed the book and took the glasses off. "How…" She gasped out, her eyes were burning and she wasn't sure if it was because of what happened or because she'd strained them too much. "How could someone just do that?"

It didn't make any sense. Kemu Zaleon, or rather Zekua Melon, was a genius when it came to the written word. There was never going to be another like him. To have someone just treat him like a disposable trinket, like he was nothing special was…painful? Horrible? Terrifying? There were too many words to describe just how bad it was.

And to think, from something so awful Zekua Melon was able to write something so heartbreakingly beautiful.

"I can't burn this book." She said sadly, looking down on the precious treasure in her lap. A part of her wished she could erase the true words she'd read from her mind. Those words didn't belong to her; she'd born witness to something private and personal. Something meant for only one person. With a shaky sigh she put her glasses back into her pocket. "I have to give this to Mr. Melon."

Duke Everlue's weird, somewhat boing-y laugh sounded through the tunnel she'd sequestered herself in. "Carrying around Gale Force Reading Glasses? You really are a great reader, aren't you?"

Lucy inhaled sharply. She'd been found.


	29. Chapter 29

The realization that her hiding place had been found shouldn't have been so shocking to her, yet it was. Before she could react or even try to find the source of the duke's voice, Lucy found herself grabbed by two long and gangly arms. For the second time in a week she found herself held firmly from behind. She was really getting tired of being held in a helpless position like this.

Somehow in her struggle her keys had been knocked loose. They clattered on the cold stone floor.

"Now tell me," Everlue began, pushing his body out from the wall. In doing so he pushed her lower half forward while he pulled back on her arms. "What secret did you find?"

"Y-you're a monster!" She hissed, her shoulders hurt and Lucy was certain she'd have bruises from how hard he was gripping her arms. "You're an enemy of literature!"

"How dare you call me that! Me? The well-educated and great duke Everlue?"

"Easily!"

In punishment he pulled at her arms roughly, causing her to squeak in pain. "An ugly tramp like you wouldn't appreciate my tastes anyway." He growled. "Regardless, what secret does that book hold? A treasure map? A hidden fortune?" He pulled some more.

Lucy gritted her teeth but stayed silent. His first thought had been about money? How shallow.

Her keys were right there on the ground next to her. She shifted her foot closer. She just needed to get her left hand free; there was no way she was going to drop 'Dear Kaby,' especially not in some sort of sewer.

"Say it!" The duke snapped and pressure increased on her arms. "Say it or I'll break your arms!"

It took everything she had to stick her tongue out at him. It was childish and absolutely not the best course of action but it got her point across. Predictably it enraged the round duke.

"Behave yourself, brat! That's my book!" He shouted as he slowly bent her arms in a way they were not meant to be bent. "I made Kemu Zaleon write it! So whatever he wrote, whatever secret that's in there is mine too!"

She glared down at him. Out of the corner of her eye, however, Lucy caught sight of something small and blue racing towards them. Without a warning to the duke, Happy slammed feet first into his arm. He cried out in pain as he released her.

"Happy!" Lucy didn't know if the cat had broken the man's arm or not, but she sincerely hoped he had. She hadn't heard any kind of crack but, well, arms weren't meant to be bent that way. While Everlue kept screaming in pain, Lucy jerked away from him and snatched her keys from the ground. "Nice! Thanks for the save." She called to the small cat.

She got an answering grin as his wings disappeared. He turned his momentum into a flip and it looked like he was aiming for the other side of the tunnel. Unfortunately he fell short and landed in the sewer water that separated the two sides.

"What's up with that freak cat!" The duke shrieked, finally coming all the way out of the wall and clutching at his arm.

Happy might have said something, but it was obscured by the water. "His name's Happy." Lucy snapped before diverting some of her attention to the blue cat. "You should probably get out of there."

"Da vader veelz good." Luckily his answer was easy enough to figure out.

"It's sewage water. You'll need a bath at the very least after this." She muttered before turning her full attention to the enemy in front of her. "The tables have turned Everlue. If you let us leave peacefully with the book, nothing else needs to happen." All the same, she aimed Cancer's key at him. In such an enclosed space, Taurus would do more harm than good and considering the only source of water Aquarius was right out.

"Ah! Celestial Spirit magic, huh?" He laughed. "You say you're such a fan of literature, yet you used that phrase incorrectly. You should only say 'the tables have turned' when your position has turned from a disadvantage to an advantage!"

"How can you say I haven't gained an advantage? I can move now and use my magic! I even have Happy here to help! My phrasing is correct!"

"No it isn't! Just because you gained more doesn't mean you're not at a disadvantage! Saying you can move and have allies! Byh! That is no advantage! Not with my diver magic!" With that bold proclamation he vanished into the floor.

"He's a mage?" Happy cried out in shock as he pulled himself out of the dirty water.

Now that she was ready for it, Lucy could feel the vibrations of the ground through her shoes. She managed to dodge backwards in time to avoid the fat man breaching the ground and attempting to uppercut her.

"It was all written in this book." She gritted out, "this awful adventure with Everlue as the main character."

"What? Who'd want to read about him?"

"It's wonderful that I'm the main character." Everlue called out as he kept trying to grab at Lucy. However no matter where he popped out from, Lucy managed to avoid him. "But the writing is crap. He is Kemu Zaleon, one of the greatest writers in the world, yet he dared to write such crap!"

Due to his erratic diving and surfacing, the water was starting to drain; something Lucy was grateful for as it gave her more space to move.

It wasn't long before Lucy was forced to stop, a gate separating one part of the sewers from another blocked her from dodging back any further. "You forced him to write it!" She grabbed at the top of the gate and prepared to haul herself up. "How can you act so high and mighty?" She jumped up just as Everlue slammed himself into it, destroying it and giving Lucy some space.

"I am high and mighty!" He stopped, letting the broken gate crash to the ground behind him as he spun to face Lucy. "He should have been honored to write about me!"

"You threatened him!" She shouted as she landed.

"So what?" Everlue twirled his mustache. "It's his own fault for refusing in the first place!"

That caused Lucy to pause for a second. "What are you talking about?"

"I allowed him to write a book about the wonderful and amazing me! But the idiot rejected my offer." He dove down once again and his voice echoed through the tunnel. "That's why I told him that if he wouldn't write it I'd withdraw the citizenship of all his relatives."

"Withdraw their citizenship…But that'd mean they wouldn't be able to join merchant or workmen guilds!" Happy cried out, shocked. "They wouldn't be able to work at all! Does he really have that much power?"

"Give enough money to a person or a place and you'll easily have power there." Lucy answered as she rapidly looked around, searching for wherever Everlue might pop up. Apparently he'd learned how she'd been predicting him before. "That's why, even for someone as creepy as him, he has absolute authority here." It was also why Lord Heartfilia was so dangerous to her even now.

A hand suddenly grabbed her ankle. "In the end, he gave in and wrote it! But I was mad that he refused me at first. So I made him write it in a solitary cell." The duke laughed, squeezing her ankle tightly. "I crushed his pride as a writer!"

Lucy wasn't sure what was worse, what he'd done or the fact that he sounded so gleeful about it. She started stomping on his hand with her other foot. "How could you go so far? Can you imagine what it was like? Being locked in a cell for three years?"

Everlue soon let go of her. "It worked! He realized my greatness!" His head popped out of the ground, far enough away to be out of range of her feet.

"Like hell he did! He had no choice; if he didn't his family would have been in danger! Even if he did give in at the end, his pride as a writer wouldn't allow him to make a proper book about you!"

The rest of his body soon followed his head and the horrible man stood some distance away from Lucy. "You…How do you know so many details?"

She held the book aloft. "It's all written here."

He stared at her in shock. "That's not possible. I've read that book, Kemu Zaleon, or any other details, never appeared in there."

"Of course. If read in the normal manner it's just a disappointing story for any fan of his. But did you forget, he was a mage too."

"No way!"

"Yes way! He used his magic to cast a spell on this book." It was one of the most impressive bits of written magic Lucy had ever seen, it was also subtle enough to be hidden unless it was looked for. Truly Zekua Melon was a genius.

"Did he make it so that his grudge would show up in the words? Unforgivable!"

"Your mind is so shallow. Yes he wrote about the true process of making this book, but that's not the kind of words he wanted to leave behind!" She declared boldly. "The real thing is not for your eyes!"

"What?" He snarled.

"There's only one person who has the right to read this! That's why I won't let you touch it!" She called out to her spirit. "Open Gate of the Great Crab, Cancer!"

With the usual flash of light and doorbell sound Earthland's best hairdresser appeared before her. His skin was orangeish in color and he was lanky with crab legs coming from his back, his hair was also stylized to represent crab claws, however those were the only things really crab like about him. He was clad in tight black pants and a blue pinstriped suit. Twin scissors were in his hand and he had a belt pouch full of other hair care supplies. Dark glasses obscured his eyes.

"Crab!" Happy cheered joyfully. "I bet he says 'snip' at the end of his sentences! I'm 100% sure!" Whatever Happy's response to the crab spirit was going to be, Lucy hadn't expected that. "He's a crab! I know it; that's how it goes!"

"Happy, now's not the time." She muttered to him.

"Lucy," Cancer started, "what kind of hair style would you like? Shrimp?"

"Now's not the time for that either!"

"Shrimp?" Happy cried out in shock.

"We're kind of in the middle of something! Finish off that mustached guy!" She pointed to Everlue.

"Okay. Shrimp."

Happy was muttering something about punches before grabbing at Lucy's shoulder and begging her to send Cancer back.

"He's not here for your entertainment," she hissed at him, "and you reek of sewer water, get off!"

Meanwhile duke Everlue was having some sort of mental breakdown. "No!" He eventually cried out before whipping out a golden key of his own. "Open Gate of the Maiden!"

Lucy stared at him in shock. He had Celestial Spirit magic too? Someone like him?

"Virgo!"

With a poof of smoke the leader of the maid brigade appeared before them. "How may I help you, my master?"

"Virgo! Retrieve that book at once!"

"She was a Celestial Spirit?" Lucy gaped, Cancer seemed to be in just as much shock as she was. However that was nothing compared to surprise that came with realizing who Virgo had inevitably brought with her. "Natsu!" At least he didn't seem to have been injured in the time they'd been separated.

"Why are you with Virgo?" Everlue cried.

Lucy, for once, could sympathize with the horrible duke. "You…How?"

Thankfully Natsu appeared to be just as shocked and freaked out as she was. If he hadn't been, she really would have started to worry about his sanity. "How…She just started moving so I followed her and then suddenly…I don't know what's going on!"

"Follow? You grabbed her!" She shouted, noticing for the first time that Natsu was gripping the back of Virgo's uniform. Then it hit her that he'd been summoned along with Virgo. "Don't tell me you passed through the Celestial Spirit realm? That's impossible!"

"Lucy! What should I do?" Whatever momentum that had been keeping him airborne was starting to fail as gravity took hold of the dragon slayer once again.

Lucy was still in shock at the fact that he'd, however briefly, passed through the Celestial realm and survived. "Virgo! Get rid of all the nuisances right this instant!" The duke's horrible voice quickly brought her out of her shock.

"Knock her out!" She called out, grabbing her whip. However he got here, Natsu was here and that was all that mattered.

"Got it!"

Lucy wasn't at all surprised when the dragon slayer managed to down the spirit with one fiery punch, despite the disadvantage his position had left him in. The duke, however, was not nearly as used to his impossible antics and was stunned enough to be open for her whip.

With a flick of her wrist, the reinforced leather was wrapped around the duke's neck. "You can't escape underground anymore!" Not without choking himself, anyway. "You," she gritted out, using all the strength she had to fling him into the air. "Shouldn't be any more than a one-shot villain!" She finished, as Cancer took care of him.

As he landed on top of Virgo, the duke's hair drifted off of his head.

"Lucy, is that haircut satisfactory?" Cancer asked, sounding quite smug. "Shrimp."

As if that one-liner had been a signal, everyone seemed to relax. The fight was over.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and clutched 'Dear Kaby' closer. "It is," she answered her spirit, "very. Thank you Cancer."

With a nod and a small glance to the other Zodiac he headed back to his world.

Natsu smacked her back in a friendly, if forceful, pat. "Great job in that fight, Lucy!"

"Aye! You're a real mage of Fairy Tail."

"Thanks."

"Now let's just burn that book and finish the mission!" Natsu cheerfully continued, much to Lucy's horror.

"No way!" She clutched it tighter, heading towards the closest stairs. "This book's way too important!"

"Eeh! But the job is-"

"I know why Mr. Melon want's this book burned," she interrupted, "but he won't get the closure he needs if this book is gone before he can see it." Lucy sighed, looking back at the more senior guild member. "If he still wants it gone after I've shown him the books true form, then I won't object to him, you, or anyone else burning it. But please, trust me when I say that this job can't end like this."

She held his gaze for a while before Natsu sighed. "Fine," he drew out the word, "I get it. You didn't have to get all serious like that."

"Would you have listened otherwise?" Lucy huffed as they made it to the main floor of the mansion. "Besides," she added, glancing to the ruined railings and beat up bodies on the floor, "haven't you had enough destruction for one day?" She really hoped they wouldn't get arrested for this.

A quick glance showed her that both of them looked confused at the concept. She supposed that compared to destroying several houses, a few broken floors weren't such a big deal. It didn't take long for them to leave the mansion and get into the town on the way to Mr. Melon's house.

"Hey, Lucy," Happy started, "how'd you figure there was something wrong with the book?"

"Well…I'm assuming neither of you have read any other works by Kemu Zaleon," at their nod, she continued. "To say he was the greatest writer of the past generation would not be an exaggeration. The only reason why the king hadn't declared him a national treasure was because he used a pen name." Not that it'd helped when the duke was involved. How did Everlue find out that Kemu Zaleon was Zekua Melon? Was it because they were both local?

She shook that thought from her head and continued. "His works are considered great classics already and they're well known for their wordplay, intriguing plot and engaging characters. This book," she hefted 'Day Break,' "the one duke Everlue forced him to write. Is an adventure novel with the duke as the main character. The grammar and word choice are worse than awful and the plot development…Well the less said about that, the better." It might be kinder to say that it didn't really have a plot. "That's why there was no way anyone would believe that Kemu Zaleon wrote this."

"Couldn't they have just lied?" Happy asked, "I mean, if no one knew his real name, just anyone could say they were him, right?"

She hummed in agreement. "True, but all authors have certain phrases and words that they always use. Like a fingerprint. More than that he always signs his work a specific way. There's no way this book could have been written by anyone other than him. That's why I thought that there was a secret in here." She giggled to herself, "then I proved myself correct!"

Natsu huffed. "Well, whatever. We're here now. Let's finish this job and go home." Despite his words, Natsu didn't seem to be all that impatient as he casually strolled up to the back door and knocked. "You're not going to tell us the secret, are you?"

Lucy smiled. "Nope. Mr. Melon deserves to be the first to know."

He shrugged, "fair enough."

It didn't take long before they were ushered into the mansion by Mrs. Melon, meeting her husband in the foyer. Lucy wasted no time in presenting the startled Mr. Melon with the gold covered book.

"Wha-what's this? I asked you to destroy it."

"It's not that hard to destroy a book, Mr. Melon. It's only made of paper after all. Even you could do it."

She could hear Natsu huff and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted him sulking some distance away mumbling something. Probably about how he could burn it just as easily.

He snatched it from her hands. "Then I will. I don't even want to look at it for another second!"

"I understand," she sighed, "why you can't tolerate this book's existence. It's to protect your father's pride right?" He stared at her in shock and she gave a small smile as she continued. "Your father wrote this book; he's Kemu Zaleon, isn't he?"

That got Natsu and Happy's attention, judging by the startled sounds they made. Mr. Melon just nodded, looking defeated. "How…How did you know?"

"You've never had the chance to read the book, right?"

"Yes. I've only heard about it from my father." He glared down at the novel in his hands. "But even if I could have, it would've been a waste of time to. My father told me that…This book is a piece of trash."

"Is that why you're gonna burn it?" Natsu's voice sounded alarmingly neutral. Lucy could only hope he wouldn't volunteer to incinerate it before the spell broke on the book. Mr. Melon just needed to hold it for a little while longer.

"Yes."

Apparently his thoughts had gone in a significantly different direction than Lucy had first thought. She'd only barely managed to stop the dragon slayer from attacking their client. "Burning it just because it's not a good book? What the hell? Your father wrote that book!"

"Natsu! I just said he wanted to protect his father's pride!" It was an amazing turnaround considering how gun-ho Natsu had been about burning the book before.

Amazingly Mr. Melon had stayed calm throughout Natsu's outburst. "Yes, my father was ashamed to have ever written 'Day break.'" He looked up at them. "You see, 31 years ago, my father came home after being gone for three years…That man, he'd only said three words to me before he tied a rope around his arm. He told me he was never going to write a book again before cutting off his hand. I knew what he'd written, and later the duke came by to yell and complain because of the poor quality of the book. He sued my father and took nearly every penny he had."

Mr. Melon turned his gaze away from the book, his voice was thick with regret and unshed tears. "My father fell sick not long after. The…the last thing I ever said to him…was full of bitter anger and pain. I rejected him and all he'd done. He committed suicide right after." His voice softened. "I hated him, even after he'd passed away."

He swallowed thickly and gathered himself as he finished his explanation. "I came to regret the words I'd spoken, as time went on. Maybe if I hadn't said them, he wouldn't have killed himself."

Natsu didn't look at all impressed. Lucy on the other hand had to fight off tears for both Mr. Melon and his father. To think that that was how Kemu Zaleon had died.

"That's why I wanted to eliminate this piece of trash from the world." He held the book aloft with one hand and dug through his pockets with the other. "Only with this atonement can he regain his pride as a writer." Mr. Melon pulled out a box of matches and struck one. Lucy gritted her teeth. He couldn't burn it, not yet. Hopefully it'd just take a few more seconds.

Their client brought the match closer to the book. "Now, my father will-"

"Wait!" Lucy cried out. The book started to glow almost at the exact same time, startling everyone in the room but her.

"Wha-what is this?" Mr. Melon gasped as the book started to float in the air. The words that made up the title drifted up off the cover.

"The letters are floating?" Happy shouted.

Lucy, however, was completely calm. "Zekua Melon, under the alias Kemu Zaleon, placed a spell on this book."

Mr. Melon glanced quickly up at her. "A spell?"

Even as he spoke the letters from the title started to quickly return to the book. Only the two words they spelt out were not 'Day Break,' rather they shifted around and instead the title became 'Dear Kaby.'

"Dear Kaby?" Half the room read out in shock. Lucy could only smile.

"Yes. You probably don't need me to tell you, but he was a rather famous mage. Specifically a script mage. He placed a spell on the book that shuffled all the letters and other characters around." As she spoke the book opened up and unleashed the letters and words contained in its pages. They floated in the air like ribbons, weaving and winding around everything in the room.

"The reason he quit being a writer," Lucy continued, "was not only because he wrote the worst book in existence but because, at the same time, he also wrote the best book possible for him to write."

The text swirled around, spiraling back into the book in a whirlpool of words.

"Amazing!"

"The characters are dancing!"

Lucy's smile broadened at the sound of her guild mate's exclamations. "The best book in the world; it contains letters written to his son, Kaby." The last of the characters were soon sucked up into the book, making it twist in the air from the force. Mr. Melon quickly caught it before the book could hit the ground. "This is what Kemu Zaleon wanted to leave behind." She finished.

He held the book in trembling hands and he whispered, almost too softly for her to hear. "Dad…" He opened the book and read a few lines before speaking in a louder voice as tears started leaking from his eyes. "I never really…understood him…"

"Of course." Lucy's smile softened. "If you can understand how a writers mind works, you'll lose all the pleasure of reading their book."

"Thank you." He sniffed, "I can't burn this book…"

"Then we won't need our reward either." Natsu crowed, much to the shock of Mr. Melon and Lucy.

"Aye."

"Huh?" While Lucy had kind of expected not to get paid, considering the price of the job, she was surprised at how nonchalant Natsu was about it. More than that, Lucy really did need money.

"We were asked to destroy the book," Natsu explained, "and we failed to accomplish that."

"But…After all that, it wouldn't be right…" Mr. Melon started, however it sounded like he was still in shock.

"I said we don't want it, so we don't want it!" He chirped. Which wasn't entirely true; Lucy wanted it. Then again, Natsu did have a point; they failed the mission, because of Lucy. While Natsu didn't seem too bothered by it, it bothered Lucy somewhat. With that said he spun around and headed for the door. "Let's get going!" He cried out. "You should go back too, Melon. To your own home."

"Heh? Hey, wait!" Lucy trotted to catch up with them, Natsu was quite quick when it came to walking. "How'd you know they didn't live there?"

The dragon slayer gave her a look, as if the answer was obvious. "Their smell was different from the rest of the house. How could you not notice?"

"Most people wouldn't!" How sharp was his sense of smell?

"Anyway, come on. We should make it back by morning."

"Wait, we're walking?"

"Of course! Unless you want to pay for a carriage." Happy spoke, as he said the 'c' word Natsu broke out into a cold sweat, though he quickly recovered.

She sighed, "I can't." She really was going to have to grab another job when she got back. Hopefully it'd be a quick and easy one so she could buy food.

Natsu clapped her back for the second time that day. "Anyway, you did really good for your first job!"

She smiled shyly at him. "Really? You think so? I did kind of…make us fail to complete it."

He grinned in response. "Of course! I have the feeling that even if we did manage to succeed, we would have failed anyway."

"Hm, I guess, in a way." She agreed softly. Now that the conversation with Mr. Melon was over, her thoughts drifted back to what happened in Everlue's mansion and what she'd read. Despite best efforts, tears gathered in her eyes and she couldn't help but sniff.

"He-hey, Lucy? What's wrong?" She looked up to see Natsu and Happy staring at her with concern and thinly veiled panic.

"It's nothing, I just…How could Everlue do that? How could he just treat people like that? Like their suffering, that their pain was nothing! Worse, that he'd be happy that they suffered because of him! And, and then I was thinking, if that was how he treated people, how did he regard Virgo? Was he as horrible to her as he was to everyone else? And if he is, there's nothing I could do about it! Even if we stole her key she'd still be contracted to that man and I.…" She trailed off and swiped at her eyes. "Sorry, I guess it just hit me, all of a sudden."

"Wow…You're …" Natsu started, and Lucy mentally braced herself to be called childish or a crybaby or anything else the other Lucys usually said whenever she got overly emotional. "You're a really nice person."

She froze in surprise before huffing out. "You don't have to be a nice person to think that the duke is awful." She shook herself and got rid of the last of her tears. "Anyway, knowing what Everlue did to him, that just makes me admire Kemu Zaleon even more."

The two of them gave a grin in agreement before the three began to make their way back to Magnolia in earnest.


	30. Chapter 30

Much to her delight and relief, when Lucy returned to Magnolia she found that she didn't have to take a job immediately. Master Makarov had apparently figured that the Everlue mission would be a bust and offered to reimburse her some of the money. He'd only given her 25,000 Jewel; an eighth of the original reward but it was still enough to put her mind at ease. At least for the moment. He'd given her a wink when he'd handed her the money, saying that he'd had a small contingency set up so that even if a mage couldn't get their reward, for whatever reason, they wouldn't go without money.

"Of course," He'd continued, "If you lost the reward paying for damages you caused on your mission, then it's your own damn fault."

"Th-that makes sense." She agreed supremely thankful that, for whatever reason, Everlue hadn't billed Fairy Tail for the damages done to his mansion when he recovered.

Makarov's response was to smile at her. "Glad you at least understand. Unlike some." He looked pointedly at Natsu. The fire dragon slayer didn't notice, he was too busy trying to see how many drumsticks he could stuff in his mouth at once. Lucy didn't want to know why. Her guild master probably didn't either; he quickly turned back to her and cleared his throat. "Well, regardless, even if you couldn't collect the reward for the Everlue job, from what I've heard you went above and beyond the requirements of the mission." He smiled up at her, "well done."

It was only two little words, but Lucy still found herself blushing brightly. His praise felt like Miss Layla's. The sudden reminder made her feel warm while at the same time brining about the ache that occurred whenever she thought about the older woman. It was confusing though strangely not unpleasant.

Lucy also wasn't sure how to respond to that remark. Miss Layla had only ever needed a smile to know that the praise had been accepted and that Lucy would continue to not disappoint. Master Makarov wasn't Miss Layla though, and if there was one thing she'd learned in the eight or so months outside the Heartfilia manor it was that people thought differently than herself and the others.

So, still red faced, she shyly thanked him. The master only laughed and shooed her off to get something to eat. Mirajane giggled from behind the bar and only winked as she handed Lucy her food. The bartender's actions did nothing to diminish her blush.

She somehow managed to find an empty table and quickly began devouring her meal. However, it wasn't long before someone joined her. Another young woman settled herself into the seat next to the newest member of Fairy Tail. She was small and cute with bright blue hair held back by a brighter orange hair tie. She was followed by two men; one in a fuzzy hat and coat while the other had a strange bandolier and his hair in an odd style.

"Hi!" she chirped, "you're Lucy, right? You and Natsu just went on that Everlue mission, didn't you?"

Lucy quickly swallowed the mouthful she'd just taken. "Yeah, we didn't actually complete the mission though." At least not in the way the client had intended.

The other girl pouted, "still, I'm kind of jealous. I was eyeing that mission for a while, but my partners didn't want to go with me." She gave a rueful smile, "by the time I convinced them otherwise, Natsu had already snagged it."

"Levy!" The guy with the weird hair cried.

"It's cause he was a pervert!" The other added.

The girl, Levy, huffed and turned to face the two of them. "And I can take care of myself! I had an outfit prepared and everything!"

"Sneaking in like that wouldn't have worked anyway." Lucy added. "His definition of beauty was a bit…off." She shrugged before continuing, "we didn't actually try to get in by pretending to be a maid regardless."

"Really? Why not?" Lucy found herself pinned under the other woman's inquisitive brown eyes.

She huffed, "if you'd seen the 'wig' Natsu had gotten, you would have refused too."

"Eh? That bad?"

"You have no idea."

The bluenette giggled. "I think I can guess. Anyway, my name's Levy and these are my partners, Jet," she gestured to the guy in the fuzzy hat, "and Dory." The other one nodded. "Together we're team Shadow Gear."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy…but, uh, I guess you knew that already." She ended sheepishly.

Levy laughed again. "Yeah, it's rare to have people join, especially after seeing one of our brawls."

"Those happen often?"

"Nearly daily." Jet replied as he had Dory sat down on the other side of the table from the two girls.

Dory chuckled as he too joined in the conversation. "Most of us grew up at the guild, so stuff like that's completely normal. It was really weird the first time someone got scared off by how 'intense' we were."

"I can see why they would be," Lucy admitted, "but at the same time, it does seem fun." Not that she'd be joining any brawls in the near future.

The three of them brightened at the second half of her comment, but it was Levy who spoke up. "It is! Especially since it's rarely ever serious."

"What happens if it is?"

"Then they take it outside and don't involve anyone else." Dory replied, as if it was obvious.

"Anyway," Levy scooted closer to Lucy, "can you tell us about the rest of the mission? Since books are involved, I really want to know about it!"

"Eh? Alright." With one last fortifying bite of her meal, Lucy launched into the details about what happened on the mission, starting with how Natsu got her to team up with him and Happy. It was strange, telling people about what happened. Lucy was so used to writing down the details about what happened that the descriptive words she'd usually use felt foreign on her tongue. Thankfully she'd already had a mental draft in her head, so she wasn't stumbling over words or going back to reiterate the things she'd already said.

It was also a bit refreshing to find that someone enjoyed and loved books as much as she did. By the time Lucy had made it to part about the library, Levy was completely enthralled. At least up until the part where Natsu tried to complete their mission.

"Natsu Dragneel! How dare you try to burn a book! Especially a Kemu Zelon work!" Lucy squeaked and quickly grabbed the bluenett's arm to keep her from going after the dragon slayer. "You and me! Outside! Now!"

Natsu blanched. "You know about that? Lucy you traitor!"

"How am I a traitor? It's not like you asked for it to be a secret!"

"Yeah, don't you dare blame Lu! You know better!"

"Levy, he didn't actually burn it." Lucy tried to placate the petit girl. "Don't you want to hear the rest?"

Her new friend settled down with a huff. "Fine, but first, Mira!" She called out, "Natsu's the one who broke the mop and stole all the mustard!"

"He what!?" The silver haired barmaid cried. Natsu squawked at the words and quickly left the hall, Mirajane's disproving glare following. He left Happy behind as the cat was laughing too much to follow.

"So it really was a mustard covered mop." Lucy muttered, somewhat disgusted and incredibly glad she didn't put it on her head. Happy soon recovered from his hysterics and joined the four of them.

"Aye, I told him it was a bad idea."

Jet snorted but it was Dory who responded with a sarcastic, "I'm sure you did."

"Really! I did!" However Happy failed to convince anyone and it didn't take him very long to go after Natsu, crying about how mean everyone one. Lucy could only stare in shock and worry at that. However Jet assured her that he'd be fine.

Levy simply had a self-satisfied smile on her face the entire time. After the cat had left she turned back to Lucy. "So? What happened next?"

"Oh, well, we heard some weird laughter before the duke came up from the floor…" This time there were no interruptions, even though she could see Levy holding herself back from asking about the code in Kemu Zelon's book. Lucy didn't elaborate on what the true story was, that part was still something only Mr. Melon could share.

By the time she'd got to the end, Levy was in tears and Dory wasn't that far behind.

Jet, though his eyes were dry, was scowling at the table. "Damn, that duke. What an awful man." He grumbled.

"Yeah," Levy agreed, sniffing and whipping at her eyes. "I'm really glad they arrested him?"

That was news to Lucy. "Wait, what? When?"

Levy blinked at her in surprise. "Last night? You were just there so I thought you knew."

"No, we left right away." That did explain why Fairy Tail wasn't being sued for damages to the mansion. Though if the duke was arrested, what happened to Virgo? "But how did they arrest him so quickly? Mr. Melon would have just gotten the book."

"Oh right, Everlue was being secretly investigated by the knights for a while now." Levy smiled as she explained. "They were pretty sure he was guilty of several crimes. That's why the counsel allowed Mr. Melon's request to go through. It would allow for Mr. Melon to get revenge on Everlue for past crimes while at the same time distracting the duke from the investigations."

"Really?" Lucy frowned. "Do they often secretly investigate someone?"

"Only on rare occasions." Dory took over. "The duke was rich enough to stop an investigation before proof could be found, so they waited until they had the proof before going public with it."

"That's often why you can find semi-legal and illegal jobs on the board." Jet gestured to the job board by the bar. "Anything that's less than legal, short of assassination, is something we can do, provided it's sanctioned by the magic counsel, of course."

"Not that it helps," Dory laughed, "considering how often we get into trouble with them."

They shared a laugh over that, though Lucy's tinged with nervousness. Would Lord Heartfilia get secretly investigated? What would happen to Lucy and the others should they do that?

Their laughter ended and Levy turned thoughtful. "Kemu Zelon was a really great mage though, wasn't he?"

Lucy was quick to smile and agree. "Yeah, to think his magic would still be here from 30 years ago." The two of them sighed in appreciation.

"Oi, Levy," Jet started, sounding strangely annoyed, "the guy's been dead for 30 years. Quit sighing over him."

Dory roughly elbowed his teammate. "He's dead, let her sigh over him." He hissed, though not very quietly. "Or do you want her to sigh over some living hot-shot writer?"

"I really want her to sigh over me!"

"No way!"

Levy ignored the fight her two teammates were getting into and turned more fully to Lucy. "He was once in a guild, wasn't he? Isn't it amazing how he went on to write about his adventures?"

Lucy decided to follow her lead and ignore the bickering duo across from them. "It is! Reading his books always makes me feel inspired."

"Heh, really? Does that mean you're a writer too, Lu?"

She nearly choked, though she wasn't eating anything. "Eh! Well maybe?" Was it that obvious to figure out?

"You really are?" Levy scooted closer and her eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Are you working on a novel?" At Lucy's embarrassed nod she continued. "I really love to read, but I can't write anything good. Well," she amended, "I can write down research and magical theories, but nothing that most people will want to read." She stuck out her tongue, "every time I try it turns out too dry and too technical to be enjoyable." Levy then shook her head. "Anyway, could I read it sometime? If you don't mind?"

"I-well," She'd never had anyone who actually wanted to read her writings. "It's not something that I can show people yet…"

"What're you talking about?" Jet piped up, apparently he'd finished his little fight with Dory. "there's no point to a book if no one gets to read it."

"Yeah," Dory agreed, "it's like showing your butt in public."

That got him odd looks from everyone at the table save for Jet, who nodded in agreement. Levy rolled her eyes before smiling sportively at Lucy. "It won't improve unless you show people, so please, can I read it?"

"It-it's nowhere near done yet. I haven't even finished the first chapter." Even if it was, what Lucy had written was done in code and she'd have to translate it.

"Then when it's done, could I be the first to see it?"

"O-okay."

Even though her response was hesitant, it still earned a bright, beaming smile from Levy. "Is it a promise then?"

Lucy could only smile back, the sheer joy that Levy emitted was infectious and Lucy felt like she could write a dozen chapters powered from the bluenett's enthusiasm alone. "I'll do my best!"

Levy clasped her hands, "I know you will Lu!"

"You can count on me, Lev."

"Woah! Is that the time?" Dory suddenly cried out as he scrambled out of his seat.

Jet abruptly appeared behind Levi and pulled her to her feet. "We'll have to get going, or we'll miss our train."

"Oh right," she gasped, "we have a mission. Do you want to come with us, Lu?"

Jet and Dory looked mildly panicked though Lucy couldn't figure out why. She did want to agree, if only to continue being able to talk with Levy. However she regretfully shook her head. "Sorry, I have to take care of some things at my apartment, maybe next time?"

Levy barely got an agreement out before the other members of her team ushered her out the door. Lucy would swear one of them was grumbling something about a hot-shot writer, but they were too far away for her to be sure. Whatever they were talking about, Levy smacked them both on the arms before turning around and waving goodbye to Lucy. She waved back before returning to her now cold meal.

It wasn't noon yet however Lucy found that her day was now quite full. She now had some money so there was no reason to put off buying things like groceries and various other little things that she needed.

Then she'd have to write down everything that'd happened into her journal. She'd just barely managed to write out the events of Mt. Hakobe before she'd gone to sleep right after buying her apartment. That had only been about two days ago, yet it felt like forever to Lucy. There were now so many details that needed to be written down, she could only hope to remember it all.

Lucy would also have to work on Plue's contract or at least make a rough draft of it. While she would have to go on a mission tomorrow for more money and Plue wasn't the sort of spirit who was good at things like that; it would make Lucy feel better if she had the contact done sooner rather than later.

Now she would also have to translate the fictional stuff she'd had written into standard Fiorian. Not that she minded, Levy had seemed so excited to read her work that Lucy didn't want to disappoint her.

Still, Plue's contract alone would likely take up most of the day, what with all the legal jargon that went into creating a solid and equal contract. As much as she'd hate to admit it, writing for Levy would have to come last.


	31. Chapter 31

It wasn't until she got back to her apartment that one of her keys warmed up with the desire to talk to her. To Lucy's shock, it was Aquarius who wanted to speak. She frowned at the now burning hot key in her hands. While Celestial Spirits could communicate through the key if there was no time or energy to be summoned, it wasn't the same as holding a face to face conversation.

Aquarius, however, absolutely loathed being summoned for simple conversation. To her it was a waste of time and her skills. Anything that she wanted to talk or gripe about would be said through her key. Unless of course she wanted to smack Lucy for doing something she considered stupid.

However it wasn't the Zodiac's day to be summoned, more than that, she still had the week off to go on that date with her boyfriend. What could possibly have been so important to interrupt her social life?

It might be because she was working on Plue's contract. Aquarius was incredibly unsatisfied with the contract she and Lucy had at the moment and was always looking for excuses to get it re-written. It wasn't the first time her first Zodiac demanded a re-write; after the third time she'd literally chucked a dictionary of Celestial world legal terms at Lucy's head. Even after making five more contracts for Aquarius, Lucy was no closer to figuring out why the older woman didn't seem satisfied with their written contracts.

Bemusedly, Lucy poured some water into a nice and large ceramic bowl and summoned the testy air spirit. One look at the mermaid's face told the summoner that she wasn't in a good mood, though Lucy had kind of guessed that.

"So," the blue haired beauty started, crossing her arms in agitation. "What's this I hear about you joining a guild?"

Lucy blinked in surprise. That hadn't been what she'd expected at all. "Yes? It's true?" What did she expect Lucy to say? "I needed the money and they all seem like really nice people."

Aquarius huffed and examined the bowl she'd been summoned from. "What happened to leaving the country? You were all gun-ho about it a few weeks ago."

"I couldn't. I just…" Lucy shrugged. "It felt wrong and then I talked to Crux."

She snorted. "Of course you did."

"Could you have told me? About the thing keeping the Zodiacs in Fiore?"

"I could have. But I had thought you'd be strong enough to leave the country," she tisked, "so much for that. Even Grammi's brat probably could have…" Aquarius trailed off, muttering darkly.

Lucy winced at the mention of Aquarius's former holder. When she'd first heard about the spirit's last summoner, Lucy had searched for her thinking to return Aquarius and perhaps to give the other spirits she had over as well. Finding out she'd been stabbed and left for dead at the side of the road had been a shock. There were times when she wondered if the older woman would have survived if she'd had the spirit with her.

She shook those thoughts away, now was not the time to get lost in her head. Aquarius would soak her new apartment if she thought Lucy wasn't paying enough attention to the conversation. She couldn't afford to pay for water damages!

"Sorry for that." She grumbled back, "but now we might have a better chance at finding another Celestial spirit summoner." She'd even already found one, granted even if Everlue hadn't been arrested, she wouldn't let that man within 100 feet of her keys. Still not all summoners she'd encounter would be like him.

At least, she hoped not.

Something flashed in Aquarius's eyes when she mentioned other summoners, but it was gone before Lucy could interpret it. Instead she scoffed. "Right, you decided to join the loudest, most eye catching guild in all of Fiore." She rolled her eyes, "that'll help you hide from That Man for sure." None of the spirits ever used Lord Heartfilia's name. He was always 'That Man' with a particular negative emphases. From what Lucy could recall, they even did that when Miss Layla owned them.

Lucy grimaced. "They're not that bad. There's rarely ever pictures of guild members printed out. Even if the papers do mention my name; there's got to be dozens of women with the same name as me."

"But not your looks." She huffed, "you say you've disguised yourself, but you've barely changed anything about you." Lucy opened her mouth to object but Aquarius was on a roll. "Oh, yes you've dyed your hair and you've picked out your own clothes, that's all well and good. But any pea-brained moron could look at you and think you're That Man's daughter. Especially if they've seen a picture of you from before." Her gaze sharpened. "All it'd take is one person and everything will be back to the way it was before."

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. If Lord Heartfilia were to find her and take her back, she'd be dead, but more importantly her spirits would be taken away. They'd be locked up in the safe again for who knew how long. The thought broke her heart.

"That won't happen. I promised you I wouldn't let that happen again." To keep her spirits from their fate, she'd promised they would never be returned to the Heartfilia manor. It was even in all her contracts and it will be in Plue's contact too, once she wrote it.

"It won't be a matter of you letting it happen."

She grimaced again at that remark and the truth it held. What she'd want would never matter in the face of Lord Heartfilia's desires. "I know," she sighed out, "but I'm not going to quit Fairy Tail."

Aquarius gave an un lady like snort. "Of course not. That'd be far too easy for you." With a casual wave she began closing her gate. Lucy quickly complied and shut off the gate on her end. Aquarius had one last thing to add as she faded into stardust. "I'm going back to my date. When That Man catches you, just throw my key away. Anything will be better than rotting in a vault."

Lucy stared at where the spirit had once been and huffed. "I won't need to do that." Aquarius had absolutely no faith in her at all. All she needed to do was avoid large high profile missions. Lucy might not earn as much money that way, but she didn't need that much.

With a sigh she started cleaning up the bit of water that had splashed about when she summoned Aquarius. Maybe she should look over her contract when she was writing up Plue's, perhaps then Aquarius might be a bit more relaxed about Lucy being in a guild.


	32. Chapter 32

The conversation with Aquarius lingered in her mind for the rest of the day, it even stayed with her to the next one. Lucy lay in her bed long after she'd woken up just thinking about that talk.

In hindsight she could agree with the Zodiacs words and say that joining a guild was a risky move, however if Lord Heartfilia was really looking for her, she would have been found by now. It was obvious that Aquarius didn't agree with her, but that was fine; the spirit didn't agree with Lucy on a lot of things.

That said, Lucy couldn't dismiss Aquarius's words. Not only would it have been rude to do so, but she did have a point. While there wasn't much of a resemblance between her and Lord Heartfilia, anyone who'd met or seen a picture of Miss Layla would be able to infer right away that they were related.

Lucy had spent the past few months feeling safe with what she'd done to hide herself, however having brown hair was only going to dissuade anyone who was looking for a blonde Lucy. If someone were to look beyond the brown and at her actual face, there was nothing to stop them from putting two and two together and figuring out that she wasn't where she was supposed to be.

Besides the easily changed brown hair the only other difference between her and the two Lucy's of her generation was that her ears were pierced. Without the little dangly heart earrings she always wore, even that detail was easy to miss.

However, there wasn't much else she could do. Lucy didn't know any transformation magic or where she could learn any. She had tried, when she first left, covering her face with a scarf but that got in the way too much. The most she knew about makeup was limited to lipsticks and while Cancer was an expert at it, his skills were solely for enhancing appearances not disguising them. Lucy also wasn't anywhere near desperate or crazy enough to permanently scar her face or otherwise disfigure herself.

It was moot now, regardless. Even though she hadn't been a member for that long, changing her looks now would raise eyebrows and suspicions at the guild.

With a sigh, Lucy finally pushed the covers off her body and got up out of bed. Thinking about things she couldn't change wasn't going to get her anywhere. The best she could do was to keep a low profile and fade into the background, like she'd told Aquarius she'd do. Even if Fairy Tail wasn't known for being subtle, if she was less outrageous then the rest of them, it should work.

Lucy nodded to herself as she made the bed, a rough plan already forming in her mind. It shouldn't be too hard; all she had to do was take small cheap and easy jobs. It shouldn't be too hard, she wouldn't even have to take that many, just enough to pay her rent, for food and some emergency money.

Her budding friendship with Natsu might cause some difficulties considering just how attention grabbing the dragon slayer was, however it might work to her advantage. If everyone's eyes were on Natsu, she would easily go unnoticed. Although considering what she knew of him so far, it'd be best if they didn't go on missions together. He probably never intended to partner up with her again after the Everlue mission anyway.

In any case, the increased risk of Lord Heartfilia finding her just meant that she had to hurry up and find another Celestial spirit summoner. However, even after over half a year of searching, she wasn't quite sure where to start. Maybe Mirajane would have some idea.

With a sigh she changed out of her sleep clothes and into one of her last clean shirts. Maybe instead of going on a mission today she'd do laundry. Lucy looked at the pile where she'd dumped her dirty clothes from the past few days. It wasn't a large pile despite it consisting of nearly all the clothes she had. Cleaning them all wouldn't take too long. So she gathered them up for washing. As she went about doing that, Lucy couldn't help but notice that some of them had holes in them. Small holes, in hard to see places, but holes nonetheless.

Maybe she should get more? Where would she buy more? The only places in Magnolia that she knew besides her apartment were the guild hall, the cathedral and a cute little restaurant not far from her home that had great takeaway.

She paused while dumping the clothes into the small washer that was hidden in her bathroom. She had indented to do a quick job today, but maybe exploring the town would be better? Lucy nodded to herself. It made sense, besides, how embarrassing would it be to get lost in the town on the way to a mission?

Her mind made up, she went on with her laundry. It might take a while for her clothes to get clean, but she knew better than to let them sit around while they were wet. In the mean time she might as well do some writing. As soon as her clothes were dried she'd go and explore the town. Perhaps Plue would like to explore with her too?

Tomorrow for sure though she'd need to take a mission.


	33. Chapter 33

It was fairly early in the morning, yet the Fairy Tail guild hall was as lively as it had been all the other times Lucy had been in it. However despite that it was noticeably quieter, perhaps because Natsu and Happy weren't in yet.

Lucy smiled and gave a wave to Mirajane as she made her way to the job board. Thanks to her shopping trip the day before, she now had clothes that wouldn't fall apart in the wash. However as a consequence she really did need to take a job today.

As she stared up at the request board though, her heart sank. There were plenty of jobs available for her to take but she didn't have the knowledge or skill set needed to complete any of them. She bit her lip as her eyes kept scanning the papers. There had to be a job she knew she could do. It didn't have to be worth a lot or easy; it just had to be something she knew she could do.

One job about killing a demon on a volcano caught her eye, she couldn't help but think that it was right up Natsu's ally. What with it being on a volcano and all. Not that it would matter to her, after all she'd decided it'd be too risky to go on more missions with him. Still, Lucy couldn't help but imagine him having fun on the volcano mission. She blinked as she thought more about it; could Natsu eat lava? It was molten rock but she'd seen him eat burning paper the day she'd joined Fairy Tail. Then again, anyone could eat paper. Maybe he could eat the heat off it and freeze the rock? How high was his heat tolerance anyway? Could he wade through lava?

Mirajane's voice broke her from her thoughts. "Let me know if there's a job you want to take."

With a start Lucy realized she'd been thinking about the fire dragon slayer's abilities and how best to use them in battle, as if he were one of her spirits. That wasn't fair to Natsu, who had no reason to listen to her, especially in the heat of battle, and who knew his own skills far better than Lucy did; or to her spirits, whose health and happiness were intimately connected to being used by her.

"Lucy?" The silver haired bartender once again brought Lucy out of her own head. Mirajane was frowning and looking slightly concerned.

The brown haired celestial mage smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just thinking; there's so many types of jobs here, I'm not sure which one to pick."

"Yes, it's surprisingly tricky." A deeper much more masculine voice sounded from behind her. She turned to see a remarkably tall muscular man with dark hair and a grass skirt looming behind her, his eyes were also gazing at the board. She dimly recalled him saying something to Natsu the day she joined the guild. He glanced down at her and gave a small smile. "It's a delicate balance between finding a job that's not beyond what you can do, that pays well and one that is worth the money you're likely to get."

"What's the difference between the last two?"

"Well, a job could pay well but let's say it's on the other side of Fiore and in a remote place. Money for travel and supplies would likely take up more than what you'd earn in completing it. So there'd be no reason to take it. Well, not unless you could otherwise mitigate that loss either by teleportation magic or something."

"Or for the challenge." Another man approached them. "Sometimes it's good to go for a job you think you'll have difficulty with. It'll help develop your skills and magic in a way that training can't. It'll also help you think more creatively." He chuckled as he continued, "you can probably complete any job on this board, so long as you're creative with your magic." He lightly smacked the other man's bicep, "or you could be picky and stick with the same boring kind of job like Nab here."

Nab huffed at the interruption and gave a small shove back. "I'm picky for a reason. It's difficult to judge if a job is too hard for you though. Especially if you're new at this. It's easy to get in over your head especially if you pick a job you think is only slightly challenging, more often than not it'll turn out to be harder than you think."

"That's why our master usually gives the final approval for jobs." Mirajane piped up, "he's a very good judge of a mage's skill and potential and he's usually quite good at figuring out a job's difficulty." She giggled behind her hand, "I'm no slouch at it myself, so if you find one you think is interesting, come tell me and I'll approve of it."

Nab nodded. "Right, especially since the master isn't here today."

"Huh?" Lucy blinked in surprise and looked around. Sure enough the guild master wasn't sitting on the bar like he usually did. "You're right…Does he usually get here later?"

"Oh no, he practically lives here." Mirajane giggled again. "He left yesterday for the regular meeting, he'll be back in a few days."

"The regular meeting?" Lucy blinked owlishly. The way Mirajane said it made the phrase sound important. It seemed like there was a lot more to a guild than what gets published in magazines. "Is that like the, ah, council meetings?" Hadn't the master said something about that when she first arrived?

"Hmm, yes and no. It's a meeting where guild masters from different provinces come together to report about their guilds, so it's like the council meetings in that way but…Hang on, it's a bit confusing. Reedus?" she called out to a remarkably round mage with a pointed hat, "could I borrow your light pen, please?"

"Oui," He said as he whipped out the small magical object, handing it to the bartender as Lucy wandered closer to her.

With a smile she uncapped it and began writing. Every delicate flick of her wrist created gently glowing letters that shimmered in the air. As she wrote Mirajane explained how the government worked with regards to guild mages.

It didn't seem as complicated to Lucy as Mirajane had made it out to be; they were all simply connected in a straightforward hierarchy. Then again, Lucy regularly had to navigate the complexities of the Celestial spirit realm's contract system. However, she could see why this would be important.

"So all the guilds are interconnected to each other? I had no idea…"

"Connections between guilds are incredibly important," Mirajane continued, "if they are neglected, you know…"

"People from the darkness will come to get youuuu."

The sudden voice behind her as well as an unexplainable surge of heat caused Lucy to jump and squeak in fright. On instinct she jerked her elbow back, striking the person who'd snuck up on her. They grunted at the impact, but it obviously didn't do much as they burst out laughing. Lucy quickly turned to glare at the culprit.

She honestly couldn't say she was surprised when she saw that it was Natsu.

"She squeaked! Did you hear? Like a little mouse!" He gasped out. "What's gotcha so scared?"

Happy laughed alongside his hysterical partner. "Mousy Lucy, AKA Moucy!"

"Don't make such a weird nickname for me!" She snapped, trying to will her heartrate back to normal. "And anyone would be scared when they're surprised like that!"

"Natsu isn't wrong though," Mirajane's calm voice cut through the laughter. "There are guilds who aren't part of the league, we call them dark guilds. They break the law just by existing and are they're often incredibly ruthless."

It almost sounded like Natsu would fit right in, though she couldn't imagine him necessarily being ruthless.

"Anyway, enough of that," he proclaimed, having recovered from his laughing fit while Mirajane was explaining, "haven't you chosen a job already?"

"Aye! We chose the last one, so now it's your turn."

"Just pick a good one- a fun one!" He tugged her away from the bar and back to the request board.

"Why would it matter to you what job I pick?"

He frowned and his head tilted in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, didn't you only bring me along because you wanted someone to sneak in?" Even then, she had been the last resort. However, considering how Natsu was acting, did he honestly want to team up with her?

"Well, yeah…" He gave her a blinding smile. "You're a nice person, so I don't see why we shouldn't stay as a team!" Apparently he did.

Lucy was struck speechless. What was she supposed to say to that? She couldn't say yes, even if a part of her did want to; she couldn't afford the attention the dragon slayer was sure to attract. On the other hand, she didn't know how to refuse him without either being suspicious or coming off as a jerk.

She was saved from answering right away when another voice spoke up. "You don't have to go with him, you know." She glanced to the side and found a handsome black haired man sitting at a nearby table in nothing but his boxers, Loke was there as well, sitting near the mostly naked mage, he winked at her but she wasn't interested in that sort of thing. It took a second but Lucy recognized the person who had spoken up, he was the guy she'd punched when she first got to the guild. She hoped he wouldn't hold a grudge but it seemed like he either didn't notice or care as he continued to speak. "I heard you did a good job last time, so plenty of people will want to partner up with you."

"Lucy," Loke stood up and reached out for her, "would you like to make a love team with me? Just the two of us, tonight."

The black haired mage gestured to Loke, "see, you got one already." Somehow, Lucy doubted Loke and that other made were talking about the same thing.

"Um, no…"

"Anyway," the dark haired mage continued, "you defeated two fighters from the Southern Wolves guild and a gorilla like woman, right? That means you're pretty strong."

"Who told you that? Natsu's the one who did those things."

His face immediately darkened and he turned to the fire mage. "What?" He snatched Natsu's scarf and pulled him close to glare and growl at his face. "That was you?"

Without missing a beat Natsu snarled back with equal venom. "Yeah, got a problem with it?"

Mirajane chose then to bring attention to the other mage's, Gray's, lack of clothes, much to his own surprise. It didn't stop the fight, however.

While Lucy's attention was on the fight, Loke had taken the opportunity to approach and talk to her. Unfortunately she only realized this in time to notice him smiling flirtatiously and to hear the last word. "…Right?"

"Wh-what? Sorry, they're a bit…"

"Of course," he waved a hand dismissively as Natsu and Gray started to fight in earnest. "They do tend to be a bit distracting. But not as distracting as you." He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and Lucy would swear there were sparkles surrounding him as he continued. "You're really beautiful. Even looking through the dark shades of my sunglasses, you're still so beautiful… Why, if I were to look at you with my bare eyes, I'd be too dazzled to see."

That was so…cheesy! And kind of lame. Was that what it was like when she flirted with people? How did she not notice before then? "If- if that's the case then please," she said in her driest voice, "take them off."

He gasped and jerked away from her. Lucy couldn't help but blink in surprise. Her comeback hadn't been that good, had it?

"You're a Celestial spirit mage?" He cried out. That was usual, Lucy had never met anyone who was able to recognize her magic on sight, save for Everlue.

"Aye," Happy pipped up from somewhere behind her, "she has a bull and a crab and a mean fish lady and many others too."

"Not that many," she shot back. She couldn't say much else though, as Loke continued to cry out dramatically.

"What a horrible quirk of fate!" He turned around and quickly dashed out. "I'm sorry! But our love could never be!"

Lucy was left gaping at his retreating figure. There were many things she should be thinking and questioning with regards to his attitude but for the life of her she couldn't think of them. "What," was all she could say, or even really think as the doors slammed shut from the orange haired mage's sudden exit.

"Don't worry Lucy," Mirajane approached, apparently tired of trying to stop Natsu and Gray from fighting. "I don't think it's anything against you personally."

"What just happened?"

"He's not very good at dealing with Celestial spirit mages, or summoners in general. But Celestial mages in particular."

"Really?"

"Mm, I bet something happened in his past. If I had to guess, I'd say a woman was probably involved."

"Is that so…" That was kind of sad actually. To think that there could be an experience bad enough to ruin an entire branch of magic for a person. However, it would provide a good segue into a question she'd been meaning to ask the bartender. "On that note though, I was wondering if you could-"

Another loud bang interrupted her as Loke reappeared out of breath and calling out for the two brawling mages. He then said three words that sent nearly the entire guild into a panic.

"Erza is back!"

Before anyone could do more than gasp in shock and fear another person entered the hall.

It was a woman with beautiful long crimson hair. She had well fitted armor covering her torso and a nice swishy skirt that showed off her legs. The woman was also carrying a horn three times as large as she was with one hand like it was nothing.

"I'm back." She had a light, smooth, no nonsense voice. When she placed the horn on the floor, Lucy felt shockwaves from its weight. With it now sitting on the floor, Lucy could make out jewels and gold inlaid into its base. "Is the master present?"

"Welcome back!" Mirajane returned, "he's at the regular meeting right now."

"I see…"

Lucy watched as the newcomer made small talk with the rest of the mages. The newest member of Fairy Tail couldn't see why everyone seemed so afraid of the red haired mage. Given the way she scolded most of the other mages, Erza simply came off as more strict than scary.

"Who is she?" Lucy muttered, trying not to draw the armored mage's attention and come off as rude.

"Erza," Happy hissed quietly at her, "she's really strong."

Lucy nodded in acknowledgement. Though she hadn't been there for long, she couldn't imagine the mages of Fairy Tail taking something like a dressing down with much grace unless there was actual power backing up the one doing the scolding.

The biggest change though, and perhaps the most frightening, was with Natsu and Gray. Their arms were around each other's shoulders and their other hands were clasped together. Lucy's jaw dropped at the sight.

"He-hey, Erza…" Gray stuttered out, "we-we're being go-go-good friends, as always."

"A-aye," Natsu agreed in his most Happy like voice.

"I've never seen Natsu act like this before," Lucy muttered in awe as the two males kept up the illusion of friendliness.

"Oh, both Natsu and Gray are scared of Erza." Mirajane laughed as she drew out some squiggles. "I'll explain using this chart."

It took Lucy a second to see that they were poorly drawn faces of the three mages talking nearby. "I don't think you need to draw a chart for this…" And so badly too.

"Well, you see, Natsu picked a fight with her and got beaten up."

"Really?" It must have been some beating, Natsu didn't seem like the type to give up after one defeat.

"And she found Gray walking around naked and beat him up too." That honestly didn't surprise Lucy at all. "As for Loke…He hit on her and nearly got himself killed." Again, that didn't surprise her at all, besides she hadn't really been curious about the flirty mage to begin with.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask both of you," Erza's voice broke the two other women from their talk, Mirajane actually gasped a bit in surprise when the red head said that. "I heard something troubling on the way back from my job. I usually would consult the master about this, but I feel this matter is urgent so…I need your help. You will come with me, right?"

At her words Lucy could feel the tension in the guild raise. There was innumerable whispers about how unusual this was.

Without waiting for a response, the scarlet haired mage turned to leave, "we'll leave tomorrow, prepare yourself."

Gray weakly tried to protest and Natsu, somewhat predictably, snapped that he'd never agreed, however, Erza either ignored them or didn't hear and left.

"Erza, Natsu and Gray…" Mirajane muttered softly to herself, "I've never imagined it before but…The three of them might make the strongest team in Fairy Tail…" Lucy could only gape at that bold proclamation.

"Impossible," Gray muttered before rapidly rising his voice. "It's annoying enough to be around him, now I'll have to be around Erza too?" He jabbed his finger at the fire mage to emphasize his point.

"This team is impossible!" Natsu agreed just as loudly as the other mage, "besides, I don't want to go!" He abruptly turned to Lucy and grabbed her.

She was too shocked to react at first but when he started to tug at her hair she cried out. "What're you doing?" Despite her struggles and protests, a heavy weight wrapped itself around her neck.

The fire mage turned away looking satisfied with himself. His upper body was completely bare, leaving Lucy in his vest and scarf with her hair all messed up, perhaps to mimic Natsu's own spiky style. "There. You're Natsu from now on."

"Wha- that's-" It wasn't like when she and one of the other Lucys replaced each other. From that standpoint, she knew nothing about Natsu. How he'd react in a certain situation, the people he knew, the sort of habits he had. There was no way Lucy could copy all of that. Like the scar around his neck that she could now see; she didn't know how he got that, or if he has any bad reactions from getting it. More than that she didn't have the right magic. She couldn't even give the illusion of having his magic; none of her spirits were attuned to fire, and most spirits that had that element couldn't create it on their own. More than that Natsu wasn't like her or the other Lucys. Natsu wasn't replaceable. Even if she could copy all those things that made Natsu Natsu, she still wouldn't be able to replace him. "That's not possible." She finished lamely.

"Aye." Happy agreed. "You two look nothing alike." Lucy nodded in agreement, taking off the scarf and shoving back into Natsu's hands.

"Fine," he whined, wrapping the surprisingly soft white scaled scarf around his neck and accepting his vest back. "I'll go on Erza's stupid mission with stupid Gray…"

"What did you just say?" Gray snapped.

"You heard me!"

In a blink of an eye, the two of them were right back to fighting, as if the interlude with Erza had never happened.

With a sigh Lucy moved away from them and back to the request board. She still needed to go on a mission today, and with Natsu busy with Gray and whatever it was that Erza needed, she had time to think of an excuse to not to team up with him. Still, she needed to figure out what kind of job she could do.

However, before she could even find one that appealed to her, Mirajane called her over. Distracting her once again from getting a job.

"Things have gotten quite exciting in the last few minutes, haven't they?" The silver haired woman moved behind the counter and started polishing a glass. "More so than usual, I mean."

"I guess?" Lucy wouldn't know the usual as well as Mirajane though.

"This has gotten me thinking…"

"Hm? About what?"

Mirajane smiled sweetly at her. Lucy had a sinking feeling that her plan to stay out of the spotlight was about to go horribly wrong.


	34. Chapter 34

The sounds of fighting filled the air. Crashes, curses, shouts, screams, they all mixed together in a horrible cacophony of violence and destruction. It was made all the worse considering they were in a fairly populated train station. Lucy wished she could say she was unaffected by the scene. However, that would be a blatant lie.

Lucy took a deep breath, trying to settle herself. It didn't work. Not with the fight happening a few feet away from her. It was no use to try and distance herself from the battle, it simply followed along behind her, which was strange as the participants didn't seem to acknowledge anything other than each other. A paranoid little part of her suspected Happy was behind it, however she couldn't figure out how the cat would manage that sort of feat.

People were staring. Either in horror at the carnage playing out before them or at her with misguided concern due to her proximity to the fight. She'd had the hope that sitting quietly and out of the way would ensure her presence would go unnoticed, obviously it didn't work that way. She could feel their gaze boring into her and Aquarius's words from the other day rang clearly in her mind. She couldn't afford this kind of attention.

In any other circumstance, she would have found their energy impressive. Natsu and Gray hadn't really stopped fighting since the day before. Whenever one of them would be distracted by an outside force, the other would simply start it up again at the earliest opportunity. Despite that, the fight wasn't very serious. From what she could see, neither of them seemed to actually be trying to hurt each other.

Since waiting it out wasn't doing anything, the only solution Lucy had was to try and stop the fight. The question was how could she?

The best spirit to summon would be Taurus, but Lucy would likely need to save her energy for whatever Erza was dealing with. Even if it wasn't likely she would be able to do much to help. Besides, summoning a spirit was fairly flashy and enough people were paying attention as it was without her adding magic into the mix.

She had her whip with her, but whip welts hurt and the thought of actually striking at one of her comrades, even if only to hold them back, left a foul taste in her mouth.

Lucy could, in theory, separate them physically. However, that option was dismissed as soon as it crossed her mind. There was no way she'd be able to do something like that.

That only left one option.

It took a couple minutes and more yelling than Lucy would have liked, but eventually the two male members of Fairy Tail were seated at an undamaged bench with Lucy stuck in the middle to act as a buffer.

"Why are you here anyway?" Natsu grumbled. His arms were crossed and he was deliberately not facing her, Gray or any of the trains.

"Because I can't say no to Mirajane!" She whined, feeling strangely defeated. Considering her financial situation, Lucy really should be on an actual paying job right now rather than helping out with Erza's unofficial mission. Luckily Mirajane promised her a month of free food at the guild. So that was one less worry for her.

Gray gave a tired sigh, "yeah, that's fair. No one can say no to Mira." A part of Lucy thought that he had no right to sound tired; she was the one who'd had to keep the two of them separated after all. "Why'd she ask you come along anyway?"

"She thought you'd need someone to keep you two from fighting so much." Mirajane was right, they did need someone to keep them from fighting all the time, but Lucy had doubts about her ability to keep things peaceful for long.

Honestly it was a lot like dealing with the newer Lucy Number 7 and Lucy Number 10. Granted, with those two at least Lucy would be able to put them into a time out. She doubted either mage would appreciate any attempt at trying to stick them in a corner.

"Really, look at what you did to the station." She continued, pointing to the destroyed zone not far away. Merchants were still cleaning up their wares and sending glares in their direction. "It's one thing to act like that in the guild or in a fight against an enemy, but do you two not know the meaning of the term collateral damage?"

The dark haired mage on her right snorted. "You really shouldn't expect ash breath to know something like that. He can barely read."

"What did you say frost brain?" Natsu half got up, leaning over Lucy to sneer at Gray.

"Nope!" Lucy grabbed the nearest shoulders of both men and shoved them away. "Gray, you have no right to talk, you're just as bad. Natsu, stop letting him bait you." Almost at one, both men turned away with a huff in order to sulk. Lucy wanted to bury her head in her hands. It really was like dealing with Lucy Number 7 and Lucy Number 10.

In desperation she turned to the only other sane member of the group. "Happy, why couldn't Mirajane ask you to mediate them?"

He smiled cutely up at her, "I don't know what that means."

"It means doing your best to keep them from fighting."

The blue cat shook his head. "Oh, if that's the case, you're doing a really bad job."

"Eh?" She looked quickly to either side of her. Sure enough in her moment of inattention both Natsu and Gray had taken to standing up on the bench, towering over her and pressing their heads together in an attempt to gain the upper hand over the other. Lucy suddenly felt like she was at ground zero for a Lacrima bomb.

A sudden, desperate thought crossed her mind and she sprung up from her now unsafe seat. "Erza! We're over here!"

The effect was just as imitate as it had been yesterday and now that Lucy knew what to expect, the sudden, synchronized and painfully false friendship between Gray and Natsu was actually pretty funny. Lucy couldn't help but laugh. It was too bad her little trick wouldn't work for very long.

"You tricked us!" Even with the knowledge that Erza wasn't actually there, the two mages were still in complete sync with each other.

"You two," she giggled out, "get along much better than you act." Maybe they fought so much in order to show their affection for each other. Lucy didn't know much about friendship, but she hoped she'd never reach that level with anyone. She couldn't imagine how tiring it'd be if she had to constantly fight someone, much less someone she cared about.

Apparently she'd said the wrong thing though because the two men immediately separated and Gray started gagging.

She was distracted from the byplay between the black haired mage and Happy when Natsu turned to look at her in confusion, as if he just realized she was there.

"So, Lucy, why are you here?"

She huffed. "I already told you! Weren't you listening at all?"

It was then that another voice spoke out, a much more feminine voice. "I heard someone call me over, did I make you wait?"

Lucy turned to greet her fellow female mage, only for her jaw to drop at the sheer amount of suitcases the red haired mage had. Lucy liked carrying all her clothes with her too, but even she had her limits. If Erza could drag that small mountain behind her on every mission, it was little wonder she had been able to carry that large horn over her shoulder with one hand.

Gray instantly went back to pretending to be friends with Natsu while the fire mage once again started to imitate Happy. Thankfully for them, however, Erza ignored them in favor of Lucy.

"You were at Fairy Tail yesterday…"

"Oh, yes, I'm Lucy, I just joined a few days ago…Mirajane asked me to tag along."

Erza smiled, "Lucy, huh. So you're the one our guild mates were talking about. They said you defeated a mercenary gorilla in hand to hand combat. A truly impressive feat!"

"Tha-that's not exactly what happened…" Who the heck was telling people these things?

"This mission might be a bit risky," the red head continued, paying no mind to what Lucy was saying, "however, considering how well you did on that job, I think you'll be okay."

"Wait, what? Just how risky are we talking about?" Just as risky as fighting a gorilla bare handed?

"Hold on a minute!" Natsu, thankfully, interrupted before Erza could say anything more to freak Lucy out, "I don't actually care what we're doing but I have a condition to going with you."

"Oh?" One of Erza's thin eyebrows rose at his words. "A condition?"

"When we get back, I want you to fight with me! I've grown stronger since the last time."

Both Lucy and Gray were shocked and somewhat frightened by that condition. At least for Lucy, hearing Natsu declare something like that when he'd normally just go straight into a fight was a bit intimidating. Gray's reaction just increased the intensity of the situation.

Erza, however, simply smiled. "You really have grown up, haven't you. I'm not very confident in myself, but…okay, I'll accept."

"What'd you mean you're not confident! Be serious!"

The red head chuckled. "I know, I've just always wanted to say that." She turned to their fourth member. "Did you want to fight me as well, Gray?"

The other mage shook his head so quickly Lucy was a little concerned he'd give himself whiplash.

Erza's answer was all that Natsu needed though and his head burst into flames. "Yeah! Let's do this!" He cried.

It was all Lucy could do to subtly arrange her hair to cover her face as people started staring again.


End file.
